Breast Cancer CARE for ALL

Come Oct. 14, Janet Darnell hopes to see a powerful symbol of the fight against the No. 2 cancer killer of women come to life in living pink color.

Darnell, executive director of the nonprofit Partners for Breast Cancer Care Inc., is aiming for a record number of people to come out and participate in creating a human breast cancer ribbon to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month and raise money for the nonprofit that provides testing and treatment for those who need it most.

Partners for Breast Cancer Care covers everything from mammograms and, if recommended, subsequent diagnostic testing such as ultrasounds, MRIs, biopsies, surgery, radiation and chemotherapy for women with low incomes and no health insurance who are diagnosed with breast cancer.

Their goal is to save lives and reduce suffering.

Women in the U.S. have a 1 in 8 (or about 13%) lifetime risk of getting breast cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control. This means for every 8 women in the U.S., 1 will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime.

Each year in the United States, about 240,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in women and about 2,100 in men. About 42,000 women and 500 men in the U.S. die each year from breast cancer. Black women have a higher rate of death from breast cancer than all other women.

Partners for Breast Cancer Care serves patients through partnerships with local health care providers throughout Southwest Florida, including radiologists, surgeons, anesthesiologists, pathologists, oncologists and hospitals that provide care at significantly discounted rates. These are the same specialists who treat patients with insurance coverage.

It's Darnell's job to negotiate fees. "I do a lot of begging," she said.

Specialists donated about $4.4 million in services last year; the nonprofit paid $145,000.

The response from the medical community is both phenomenal and emotional, Darnell said. "We do a lot of crying here."

During Partners for Breast Cancer Care's last fiscal year from June 2022 to June 2023, they paid for 272 mammograms for qualifying patients. Since June, there have been 92 more, for a total of 364. The 92 mammograms alone since June would have cost patients $43,424 out of pocket, Darnell said. But the nonprofit pays a fraction of that cost. The patient pays nothing.

If someone had to pay out of pocket, a mammogram is $472, Darnell said. For a mom who is struggling to feed her children and make ends meet, that may not be an option. That's where Partners for Breast Cancer Care can come in.

Darnell knows the nonprofit makes a difference in women's lives in Southwest Florida because back in the late 1990s, the organization saved hers.

Darnell got her first mammogram at age 44. She had a house cleaning business at the time, but no health insurance.

She remembered that the TV was on while she was at a cleaning job and she heard a local news anchor remind viewers that it was October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month and everyone needed to get their mammogram.

She also heard about where she could get a mammogram at a reduced rate.

She was stunned when the screening came back positive. She had no family history of cancer. The cancer looked like a series of about 12 tiny dots the size of grains of salt, she said.

They wanted to do a needle biopsy. Darnell said she had no health insurance. Then the radiology technician told her about Partners for Breast Cancer Care. Darnell had the biopsy, a subsequent lumpectomy and six weeks of radiation therapy, all covered by the nonprofit.

If the technician hadn't told her about Partners for Breast Cancer Care, she probably wouldn't have had the biopsy, Darnell said. "I would have thought to myself, how bad can it be? It's the size of salt, you know. And my surgeon told me if I had waited a year. I would have lost my breast. So that's a scary thing to hear."

Diagnostic and other treatments for breast cancer are even more expensive out-of-pocket., Darnell said. An ultrasound is $1,587; needle biopsy, about $6,000; MRI, about $7,000; a lumpectomy, about $24,000. A single session of chemotherapy can cost $95,000, depending on what drug is used. To go through treatment all the way from mammogram to chemotherapy can cost $244,119, she said.

Partners for Breast Cancer Care, founded in 1990, does not receive any government funding. It receives support from the United Way, and other community support through grants, donations and private and public fundraisers held by wide range of groups and businesses, including Club Pelican Bay, communities like Heron's Glen, Fiddler's Creek and Kelly Greens Golf & Country Club; the Fraternal Order of Eagles, Rotary and Zonta clubs, and many others. Even the Fort Myers Mighty Mussells had a "pink" donation night for the nonprofit.

Darnell and her case manager, Jessica Grau, are the only employees. They have about 20 volunteers and work out of an office at Hope Hospice at HealthPark in Fort Myers.

The nonprofit has never turned anyone away, and even expanded in 2018 to Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties.

They partner with other agencies such as the Lee County Department of Health, Family Health Centers of Southwest Florida, Healthcare Network and others. "They're constantly referring clients to us that go through them for their medical care," Darnell said.

Darnell outlines a sample scenario of what happens when one of their clients has a mammogram and the results call for more testing.

"Now they need a diagnostic. Then they get an ultrasound. Then they need, let's say, a needle biopsy that comes back positive for breast cancer."

At that point the patient is referred to a breast health nurse navigator at the Lee Health Regional Cancer Center, she said. The navigator meets with the patient and then sets them up with the surgeon. "They have something called the multidisciplinary breast clinic that our positive diagnosed clients can get involved with," Darnell said.

The patient now sits in a board room with the surgeon, the radiologist, the oncologist, the pathologist, the chemotherapy oncologist, the entire team, she said.

"They're all sitting at the same table at the same moment talking about our client and what the plan of action is going to be. We cover the cost of all of that. She's all set. She doesn't have to go to this doctor, that doctor and that doctor and it's three weeks later and she's still wondering what her plan is. It all gets done right then and there."

The client doesn't have to pay anything, Darnell said. "So then she gets set up with a lumpectomy or a mastectomy and then radiation or chemo or both. And that's it. We also partner with the genetic testing if that's required. So it's the full package, thanks to all our partners in health."

That includes other organizations like the Cancer Alliance Network of Naples, which provides non-medical services like help with rent, utilities, transportation to appointments, food, etc., to cancer survivors and their families in Lee and Collier counties.

Partners for Breast Cancer Care offers no-cost care to clients who live in Southwest Florida, are uninsured and have an annual income of $43,740 for a single household, $90,000 for a family of four. Clients must provide a Social Security or individual tax identification number, photo ID and a doctor's prescription for breast care.

The nonprofit's Human Pink Ribbon event was a signature fundraiser that has not been held since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Darnell wants to see 700 participants on Oct. 14, which she said would be a new record. Registration begins at noon at the Bell Tower shops in Fort Myers. For a $20 donation, you'll be given a pink umbrella.

At 1:30 p.m. participants will gather to stand within the borders of the giant ribbon Darnell outlined in chalk on the Bell Tower's back parking lot. They'll open their pink umbrellas and a drone will fly over to record the moment for posterity. "It's emotional because, you know, we tell the survivors to all raise their umbrellas higher than everybody else and there will be a moment of silence," Darnell said. Instead of wearing a ribbon, they will become the ribbon. "It's just sort of fun to be part of something like that," she said. ¦

In the KNOW

Breast cancer risk factors you cannot change

Being born female — women have about a 13% risk of developing breast cancer.

Getting older.

Having a family history of breast cancer.

Having a personal history of breast cancer.

Inheriting certain gene changes (mutations) such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 and others; on average, a woman with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutationhasuptoa7in10chanceof getting breast cancer by age 80. Risk is affected by how many other family members have had breast cancer.

Having dense breast tissue.

Having certain benign breast conditions.

Exposure to diethylstilbestrol, a drug used between 1940 and 1971 to prevent miscarriage.

Being over age 55.

Starting to menstruate before age 12 or entering menopause after age 55.

Other Risk Factors

Taking hormone therapy after menopause (for several years).

Giving birth for the first time after age 30 or not at all; not breastfeeding.

Using certain birth control medication, shots or implants.

Being overweight or obese.

Following a sedentary lifestyle.

Drinking alcohol.

Using tobacco.

Sources: American Cancer Society, Florida Department of Health, National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute; Moffitt Cancer Center

Breast Cancer Resources

Partners for Breast Cancer Care, Fort Myers, 239-454-8583, pfbcc.org

Cancer Alliance of Naples, Bonita Springs, 239-643-4673, canceralliancenetwork.org

Family Health Centers of Southwest Florida,

844-342-7935, fhcswfl.org. Locations in Fort Myers, Bonita Springs, Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral

The Florida Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, administered by The Florida Department of Health in Lee County, 239-332-9535, lee.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/clinical-and-nutrition-services/breast-cervical-cancer-detection/index.html

Lee Health Breast Health Centers Coconut Point, Bonita Springs, 239-468- 0055 HealthPark Commons, Fort Myers, 239-343-7264; University Highlands, Ester, 239-343-0055; The Sanctuary, Fort Myers, 239-343-9450; Cape Coral, 239-541-7540

Compassionate Mammogram Fund at the Lee Health Regional Cancer Center helps women in need have access to leading-edge breast cancer detection. leehealthfoundation.org/compassionate-mammogram-fund/

Sharon MacDonald Breast Health Fund through Lee Health Foundation helps underwrite the cost of chemotherapy, radiation, medication and other services needed regardless of patients' ability to pay. leehealthfoundation.org/sharon-macdonald-breast-health-fund/

Information on medical providers and breast cancer help through the United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades. For assistance call 2-1-1 or call 239-433-3900.· Using certain birth control medication, shots or implants.