Trying to survive: To access lifesaving drugs, young cancer patients face huge hurdles
When it comes to treating cancer in Canada, it turns out that age does matter.The drug Grundy needed to survive, an at-home chemotherapy treatment called Temozolomide, is not covered provincially for patients of her age.As shocking as it may seem, for cancer patients under the age of 65 in Ontario, provincial drug programs only cover intravenous chemo administered in hospitals.
A similar situation exists in Atlantic Canada, where public drug insurance plans are designed to support patients only on social assistance or those 65 and older, according to a 2022 study onby Dalhousie Medical Department oncologists Dr. Stephanie Snow and Dr. Ceilidh MacPhail. “This is a time that I should have been focusing on my wellness, and instead I had to fight for the treatment when I really should have been fighting for my life.”Courtesy / Rebecca Grundy
“That’s the most devastating situation — when the most effective, the most convenient, the best- tolerated treatment just no longer becomes an option,” she said. For young patients given a grim diagnosis of a few months or years to live, it’s a devastating situation. Many have young families and are earlier on in their careers and thus have fewer resources available to them, Snow said.
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