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Camille Marvin
Jan 16, 2011
My Story
Hi my name is Camille Marvin and I am eighteen years old. I graduated from Cupertino High School in June 2010. This is the time where I should be living my life to the fullest and enjoying the challenges ahead of me. Instead In October 2010 I was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer and am now fighting for my life. It took Kaiser Permanente 5 months to diagnose me and they even misdiagnosed me four times before finding out I had cancer. Now they won’t even pay for a second opinion in order for me to receive all possible help that is necessary so I can survive. I came to be in this unfair situation in result of Kaiser not giving me the best possible help that I obviously need. My family and I and can barely even afford insurance which is why I am seeking out for help. I am putting my story out there because I want to live and fight for what I believe is right. This is my story of how I came to be in this situation and why I desperately need help.
September 2008 - Camping out
while
hiking up Mount Whitney |
How it started
This whole ordeal started in May 2010 when I began feeling severe pain in my stomach/colon. I went to my doctor to see what was causing all this pain and discomfort and was treated for constipation. As time passed nothing changed and I was still in pain. I went back to my doctor who gave me an exam, then told me it was still constipation and now a hemorrhoid that was causing the pain.
After given more medication I went home hoping this would be the end of my troubles. Unfortunately this did not solve my problem and I was still experiencing pain. Without any answers, my doctor referred me to a gastro intestinal specialist. After meeting with him, he did another exam and still thought it was the same thing that my other doctor treated me for. I was again sent home without an answer but still hoped that it would eventually get better with time. Once again this did not solve anything and in result I had to go back to the doctor. He still did not know why I was in so much pain, and then suggested he perform a colonoscopy. The specialist told me that he thought it was possibly auto immune disease. He prescribed me with medication which only made my pain worse. In time, I realized this medicine was not working and that I was in even more pain to begin with. I went back to the doctor who told me it was no longer auto immune disease, but something called rectal prolapsed. I was then given treatments to fix the problem which resulted in more pain.
The doctor realized that nothing was getting better but only worse. Looking for an answer, he suggested that surgery could possibly help. I was referred to a surgeon in Fremont but was told that the only appointment available was about a month away. By this point it was already October which made me angry because I had already been waiting five months to figure what was causing all this. My mom called the surgeon office everyday to try to move my appointment up. Eventually I was seen about a week earlier than scheduled. The surgeon saw how much pain I was in and wanted to confirm what the problem was since most people with rectal prolapsed did not experience as much pain that I was in. After not even being able to do a proper exam because the pain, she put me under anesthesia so that she could perform a full exam.
September 2010 - My sister and I at my cousins wedding in Pajaro Dunes. |
The exam revealed that there was a mass in my rectum. The surgeon ordered a cat scan for me to see how the tumor got there. The results revealed that the tumor was cancerous and it had spread to my lungs and possibly my liver. After knowing this my life changed completely. I was no longer a normal 18 year old anymore. I was now someone with a life threatening disease. At first I was terrified, but knew that this was not going to end of my life. I now had to begin the fight in order to save my life.
What Happened Next
I began to look at why I was in this situation and knew that something was not right. It took Kaiser 5 months in order to diagnose me with this disease. I lost over 30 pounds in a span of 5 months and realized that I had all the obvious symptoms of colorectal cancer. If Kaiser had done something sooner it could have prevented the cancer from spreading and my disease would be easier to cure. After my diagnoses I was told I had to have surgery to install a colostomy and a port. I was very scared because so much was happening at once, and it was all completely new to me. After I recovered from surgery it was now time to start my treatment. I met with a very nice oncologist who seemed eager to help me. He told me that he was going to start me on a treatment called Folfox. I was to go in for infusions every two weeks, and would have a pump connected to my port for two days. Two treatments and one month later I had an appointment on December 1st with a world renowned colorectal cancer doctor from UCSF for a second opinion, which we paid for out of our pockets. I did this in order to receive the best possible treatment out there so I can be cured. After the consultation he suggested that we change to a more aggressive treatment called Folfiri. He also suggested a better nausea medicine for me after seeing how nauseated I was due to the treatments. After talking with my oncologist we decided it was in my best interest to change my treatment. Knowing that Kaiser took his advice, I thought it would only be appropriate that they pay for the visits I had with him. We applied for coverage of future consultations.
December 2010 - My mother, best friend and I at the cancer benefit my cousin Stephanie and friend Kristin put together in honor of me. |
We were informed that our request was denied. Kaiser told us that we had a second chance to convince them that this was absolutely necessary. In order to do this we had to go to Oakland to meet with a board of health officials from Kaiser. I was given ten minutes to convince the board to cover the expenses required to seek the Doctor from UCSF’s opinion. I wrote a speech explaining how I got into this situation, and how it took so long for Kaiser to diagnose me. I also talked about how they should at least cover my payments for this doctor that they were already taking advice from. They seemed to be very compelled by my story, and were even impressed that I had the courage to come explain why I needed their help. This gave me hope that they would accept my request. Later I was disappointed by a phone call telling me that my request was denied for the second time. This infuriated me because they had already misdiagnosed me once, and now they were not even going to help me seek the best treatment necessary for my recovery.
Why I Need Help
June 2010 - Graduating from Cupertino
with support from family |
I am seeking for help because I believe it is not appropriate for Kaiser to make my family and I pay for a heath care system that already misdiagnosed me by not performing a full exam earlier. Kaiser now will not even pay for the best possible treatment that I need. I think if Kaiser would have done a better job diagnosing me then I would not be in the situation I am in now. Kaiser’s motto is to thrive when in reality I am someone who is not only fighting for my life, but fighting for what I believe is right. My father is even struggling to pay our insurance because the economy is making it impossible for him to even have a job. I know in my heart that all of this is morally wrong. I need help because I want to live a fulfilling happy life with my family. I am so young and need to live so I can accomplish all the goals I dream of achieving in life. I am putting my story out there because I need help. I want people to realize how unfair my situation is and hopefully find somebody out there that can help me. If you have any suggestions or ideas I would greatly appreciate your help. I need to this for myself and my family. I want to help change this so that no one has to experience all the pain and suffering I have experienced. Please contact me if there is any possible mean by which you feel you can help me. Thank you, for your time and reading my story.
-Camille Marvin
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