#inhumane #Cancer #survivors #worry #future #lymphedema #clinic
Quebecers fear being deprived of care due to uncertain funding for the province’s only clinic specializing in lymphedema, a chronic and very painful swelling that develops following certain cancers.
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“I have constant pain, which has been tolerable since I was followed at the clinic. I definitely don’t want it to go back to the way it was before. It was so swollen that even the seams of my clothes hurt,” breathes Rosemary Okuda.
The 70-year-old Montrealer has been followed at the lymphedema clinic at the McGill University Health Center (MUHC) for five years.
Rosemary Okuda
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
His lymphedema appeared as a very painful swelling in his trunk after treatments to remove sarcoma, a cancer that attacks the body’s soft tissues such as muscles and blood vessels.
The trained biochemist could no longer sleep and move as before because the inflammation was causing her so much pain and her skin was so fibrous.
Waiting
In 2019, Ms. Okuda had to wait four months to access care at the clinic, the only one in the east of the country to treat cases like hers.
In remission from breast cancer for a year, Nathalie Chamberland has just had her first appointment.
“I have the beginnings of lymphedema. It’s important to control it quickly, otherwise it will progress and limit movement. It’s painful, this swelling in the arm,” worries the 53-year-old woman.
However, according to the Quebec Lymphedema Association, funding for the clinic will be reduced considerably starting in April.
Already open only three days a week, it will only be accessible to patients barely more than one day a week, learned the president of the association, Anne-Marie Joncas.
“The desperate cases we had, where are we going to send them? It’s inhumane,” she says indignantly.
A widespread condition
The vast majority of cancer survivors who experience lymphedema are women. There could be thousands of them affected by the reduction in service, estimates Ms. Joncas.
Still little known and little diagnosed, lymphedema is a very widespread consequence of certain types of cancer, such as breast cancer and sarcomas, she explains. Without proper care, such as compression garments, swelling can progress and even cause life-threatening infections.
Sparing with details, the MUHC does not refute the Association’s fears, but says it is looking for solutions.
“The financial support of the Cedars Foundation against cancer is extended for an indefinite period, beyond three months, to allow other financing solutions to be found,” indicated by email the communications manager, Annie-Claire Fournier.
The Cedars Foundation did not respond to our requests.
What is lymphedema?
- Swelling that won’t go away
- Chronic inflammation deforms limbs, impedes movement and puts people at risk for life-threatening infections
- 75,000 people who have survived cancer are affected in Quebec
- 85% are women
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