Morelia, Michoacán- (OEM-Infomex) .- Mrs. Constanza was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago. She is a street vendor, she does not have medical insurance or her own resources to pay for the cost of chemotherapy, operations or medications; gThanks to the fact that his two daughters sent him money from the United States, he was able to meet these expenses.
She went to the doctor to get checked because her comadre had been diagnosed with the disease at a very advanced stage and had died, so she raised money to go to the doctor, in two months she managed to collect the 1,500 pesos they charged her for the mammogram.
“It was in October 2017, I went to a private clinic for a mammogram, almost two weeks later they confirmed my mother’s cancer diagnosis. He was in early stage two, contrary to what I thought, that was not good, the word early is misleading … he had two malignant tumors, and it had affected lymph nodes in the armpit. At that moment everything came together, I thought that I would die, that without insurance it would be a burden for my daughters, sincerely at that moment I wanted to die ”, said Doña Constanza.
To have money for treatment and surgeries, he had to tell his daughters, who are living in Los Angeles, United States, and had to double shifts at their respective jobs, they received help from relatives who had to sell things, as well as organize collections Thanks to this, he was able to pay about 500 thousand pesos for three surgeries.
“I had three operations, first they removed a segment of the left breast and 2 risky lymph nodes, but a second had to be done and they removed another segment, but there was still a risky mass that resulted in mastectomy.”
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Currently he must take two medications to prevent metastasis, which are around an average price of 8 thousand pesos.
Mrs. Constanza commented that her life changed not only because of the physical changes caused by the disease, but also because of the psychological changes and even in the family finances.
In that sense, she recommended that all women go to the doctor and constantly check themselves: Tell all women to get checked, to go to the doctor from a young age, to be detected early, to love each other, even if they do not have a history of cancer in their families. Look at me, in my family there were no cases or we didn’t know about it ”.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1.38 million cases are detected each year worldwide; while in Mexico more than 23 thousand cases are detected annually, with a mortality rate of six thousand deaths, thus being the second cause of death in Mexican women.
In the state, seis out of 10 women are prone to breast cancer, according to the Ministry of Health of Michoacán (SSM).
Currently, chemotherapy can cost, per session, between 60,000 and 80,000 pesos. Radiation therapy ranges between 12,000 and 25,000 pesos, medications can cost up to 50,000 pesos, and operations for breast reconstruction are between 200,000 and 750,000 pesos.
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