Each day I google informatation on Avastin to see what is new in this crazy fight to keep Avastin on the market for other women just like me. Today, I see where the latest news on Avastin is that it can cause "heart failure" in women with advanced stage cancer. Really?!?!?! Seriously?!?!? This has never been hidden from our knowledge, it's written all over the drug information that is given to us as patients when we choose to move forward with this drug. This is NOT new information! This side effect has been posted on the drug website since day one. So hmmm... why bring it up now? Sounds to me like someone needs a backbone to stand on.
Just a word of advice to you 12 or 13 people on the FDA panel... when you have stage 4 cancer and things aren't going your way...the side effects don't really factor into the decision. Let's see...I'll just quit treatment and die, I'll continue chemotherapy and die a painful death, OR I'll try this new promising treatment that could possibly extend my life and bring back my quality of life. It's a NO BRAINER!!!
Every cancer drug has side effects. It is the job of the patient to monitor thier side effects and have things checked out by the doctor to decide if a drug is too risky or simply not working. True, this drug will not work for all late stage breast cancer patients like it does for me, but why not let all of us have a try at it, and why pull it from all of those just like me. What about all of the women that will learn that their stage 4 cancer is no longer responding to chemo, should we deny them this opportunity?
I find the timing of this news release to be to perfect. Sounds like politics at work to me. Take if from a cancer patient that has seen a lot of oncologist...no drug is given for cancer without a pharmacist coming into the room to go over every single side effect and risk that will or may happen. Our medical system is smarter than that. No patient leaves the office without realizing the risk. So go find another leg to stand on FDA!!!
About Me
- Julie Heppe
- This blog really isn't designed to be about ME, however I am willing to share my life with you so that you can gain knowledge about living with cancer, the importance of continued research in cancer fighting drugs, and how the FDA's decisions on releasing or pulling a drug from cancer patients can greatly impact many lives. While my cancer is advanced breast cancer, I am fighting for all cancers, and actually life in general. My life has been directly affected by many other cancers as family members, friends and chemo buddies have died from various cancers. Each one of these people have shaped my life and I am fighting to honor their fight, and to continue fighting for all of us touched by this horible disease in some way. Most of all, I'm fighting for the right of my 11 year old daughter to continue having a healthy mother, and for my Husband and Mother to keep them from the pain and torment that comes from seeing a loved one die from cancer. The FIGHT IS ON!! Please join me!!!
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