Father of two waiting six months for letter to get cancer treatment overseas
Published:Friday | February 18, 2022 | 12:07 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer
Ten-year-old Austin Rose of Pineapple, Ocho Rios, knows that his dad, Michael Rose, is not too well. He might not know the severity of his illness, that he has stage four cancer, but he is aware that all is not well with his favourite role model.
Austin’s little brother, Mars, who is five, is even more unaware of his dad’s condition. However, he cherishes time spent with his dad as much as his older sibling.
Both kids spent last weekend at Moon Palace Jamaica with their dad, no doubt a memory that they will cherish for years to come.
The occasion was the Palace Foundation’s Dream Weekend where they offer kids and their families with terminal illness a complimentary weekend. Michael is a chef at Moon Palace Jamaica.
The next few months, though, may well determine if that weekend at Moon Palace would turn out to be their last vacation.
Michael, 32, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Ewing sarcoma in 2019 and despite several operations, his health still hangs in the balance.
In fact, the cancer is back and is spreading more aggressively.
To survive, to share many more years playing with and nurturing his kids, Michael needs urgent treatment which is not available in Jamaica, after all resources have been exhausted to treat him.
But standing between Michael being able to visit the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Massachusetts, USA, is a letter.
A letter from doctors here in Jamaica who have treated the young man over the past few years, that would enable him to put the necessary insurance coverage in order to start treatment. Dana-Farber will not do the treatment without the insurance being in place, a common practice among health facilities in America.
“I started asking for the letter last year, about August,” Michael told The Gleaner.
“Now it was just last week they’re telling me that I need to make a release of information request. This was not made privy to me in the beginning. So it’s been a runaround, back and forth with them. They’ve not tried in any way or shape or form to get me the information I need, to get the help I need, as fast as possible.”
“I did the surgery at National Chest Hospital in Kingston; I did chemotherapy at Hope Institute in Kingston as well,” he revealed.
In the meantime, Michael’s condition continues to deteriorate as the cancer continues to spread. No one knows if it is already too late.
In 2011, Michael had a pain in his chest and after doing an X-ray it was discovered that there was a small nodule in his chest. The conclusion was, it would most likely be osteochondroma, a benign bone tumour. However, no further tests were done and the matter was closed, basically.
A few years later the pain returned, along with shortness of breath.
In 2019, he did a biopsy of the tumour which at that time had tripled in size, about the size of a grapefruit, on the chest. The result confirmed the presence of Ewing sarcoma.
“I did an operation (2019) to remove the entire tumour and surrounding area, including the infected ribs and infected chest muscle and tissue. I did not do any chemo at the time, it was not recommended so I went home. Within a year I started experiencing more difficulties. I went back to the doctor, they told me to do another CT scan which I did, and it showed that the cancer was back, in the same area but also in the chest muscle and the lung. I was diagnosed with stage four Ewing sarcoma. It was at that time they decided chemotherapy would be an option.” Unfortunately, the chemotherapy didn’t work, even after six rounds.
According to Michael: “The situation is kind of touch and go because I did six rounds of chemo and after my first scan the doctors told me the chemo was not as effective as they wanted it to be, since the tumour continued to grow throughout the chemotherapy. So, that would not be an option for me; neither radiotherapy because in their words, ‘I’m not coughing up blood.’ So they suggested I go to a facility that can better treat the cancer but there is none in Jamaica.
“What I require from them now is a letter stating that they treated the cancer and the treatment is ineffective so the recommendation is to get treatment somewhere else.”
Michael said his mother enquired about Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. However, they require insurance.
“In order to get the insurance, my doctor would have to write a letter to the insurance company stating that the service they are performing is not working. But the letter has proven so difficult to get,” Michael lamented.
“I don’t have much time, as we all know cancer does not wait on anybody, it continues to do what it does even through you waiting on help.”
According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) regional office for the Americas:
Jamaica is responsible for 0.3 per cent of all childhood cancer cases in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 0.4 per cent of related deaths each year.
This amounts to 90 new cases and 39 cancer deaths, among people below 20 years of age, annually. That’s a death rate of 43 per cent.
Additionally, 19.3 per cent of all deaths among children and adolescents (one to 19 years) are due to cancer.
When it comes to medicines to treat children with cancer, 77 per cent of these medicines are included in Jamaica’s Essential Medicines List.