Providing Cancer Treatment for the Uninsured

When Martha King learned that she had lung cancer and tried to get treatment from cancer specialists at a Denver hospital, she left without hope. Like many Coloradans who don’t have health insurance, King could not find a doctor to treat her.

“I couldn’t breathe. I thought I was having a heart attack,” King said of her symptoms which accelerated last January. She thought she had no choice but to go home and die.

“They told me it won’t kill you right away, but it will kill you,” said King, 61, who shares a mobile home in Golden with her 22-year-old daughter and her husband, along with their 2-year-old daughter. “They may think I’m expendable, but I’m not to my daughter and granddaughter.

“I just went home and prayed and prayed and prayed. And somehow, God gave me Dr. Otsuka.”

Dr. Alvin Otsuka, 62, is an oncologist with the Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers in Lakewood who has become increasingly frustrated at the lack of health care for the poor and working poor. So, he took action and started devoting one day a week to social justice work. On Wednesdays, he visits Metro Community Provider Network (MCPN) clinics to find patients who could get a dramatic extension of their lives through access to specialists.

Otsuka knows that providing care is the right thing to do. But, it also makes economic sense. “If we treat them now, they won’t come back to the ER later with a much worse problem,” he said.

The MCPN provides primary care to patients in Aurora, Jefferson and Arapahoe counties who have no other access to health care. Through a grant from The Colorado Trust, the MCPN has set up a specialty care referral program to find doctors like Otsuka and care for patients. For many, like King, such care literally saves their lives.

“We’re closing a huge gap in health care disparities for chronic illnesses,” said John Reid, MCPN Vice President of Development.

Martha King now sees Otsuka every three weeks for chemotherapy treatments. The cost of each visit is just over $20,000. Otsuka donates his time and has arranged for drug companies to provide the $18,000 drugs for free.

“Lymphoma is highly treatable,” Otsuka said of King’s cancer. “When I first saw her, she had a large tumor under her left arm that was causing her a lot of pain. Now, she will probably go into remission that will last 10 to 15 years.”

King lost her health insurance when her husband died 10 years ago. She worked a $10/hour job at a salon and failed to qualify for Medicaid or Medicare. King now survives on $1,000 each month in Social Security which barely covers food and rent for her double-wide trailer. Additionally, King helps raise her granddaughter, Madison, one of seven grandchildren and four children.

“She’s the one who makes me want to go on more,” King said, as she drifted off to sleep during a chemotherapy treatment. “Dr. Otsuka is a humanitarian. He’s my angel. I’m a human being to him.

“Now, I have lots of hope. Lymphoma is not curable, but it is treatable. I can live with this. It means I’ll be there for my grandchildren.”