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Dead at age 77, Senator Ted Kennedy's battle with brain cancer helped awareness of this disease and left lessons learned.
One of my best friends, a breast cancer survivor of about 10 years, later developed what she thought were migraine headaches. When she kept complaining about no relief, I urged her to see her doctor. Six months later, just before Christmas that year, she died from brain cancer.
Lessons learned from how Senator Kennedy faced his illness are:
- While we may be unwilling to talk about death, we must prepare for our own death - he welcomed death and tied up his own loose ends.
- While others may be unwilling to let us go, we must prepare them for letting go - he gathered his family together.
- Share your feelings - he opened his home to colleagues who were in cancer treatment and spent a lot of time at Walter Reed hospital with wounded soldiers.
Known as a champion of healthcare reform, his own illness sparked debate on Capitol Hill.
"In countries that have government-run health care," warned Iowa's Republican Senator Charles Grassley, "I've been told that the brain tumor that Sen. Kennedy has — because he's 77 years old — would not be treated the way it's treated in the United States." This would be like saying, he went on, that "when somebody gets to be 85 their life is worth less than when you're 35, and you pull the tubes on them."
Source: Ted Kennedy: The Lessons of His Dying, By Nancy Gibbs Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009
According to the College of American Pathologists:
It is expected that more than 22,000 Americans will be diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in 2009. Senator Ted Kennedy's death from a brain cancer draws attention to a rare, but often fatal type disease. While the risk of developing brain cancer is relatively low, it is important to heed the warning signs and receive an accurate diagnosis.
Related resources:
Brain Tumor and Brain Cancer, by Debra Wood, RN
Brain Scan May Help Predict Cancer Drug Response, Her News, July 30, 2009
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Add a Comment3 Comments
What we also learned from Senator Kennedy is this: He had the best care money could provide. He was able to choose his care based solely on quality and reputation, not whether his insurance would cover treatment or whether he could travel to a specific region of the country. He chose Duke University's Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, one of those in the forefront of treating this disease.
If someone in my family were ill with brain cancer, it's exactly the kind of thing I'd want to be able to do: Seek the best treatment, without having to worry about whether it was affordable.
No matter how contentious the health care bill debate gets, it's worth it to remember that there are millions -- millions -- of people in this country who don't have any health insurance at all. That means they use emergency rooms as their doctor's office, and get little or no wellness care, routine checkups, prevention awareness or prenatal care. One of Sen. Kennedy's life ambitions was to get a health-care bill passed to help take care of these people. I hope his legacy can help get it done.
September 1, 2009 - 8:28amThis Comment
Sen. Kennedy was known to be a champion of healthcare reform. Unfortunately, he would not live to see any reform.
Certainly he had the wherewithal to obtain the best medical care he could afford. My friend, Viv, did not have anywhere near the financial resources of Kennedy; but, she did still get the best care her hospital and hospice could provide. Maybe she was among the fortunate, while too many others are forced to forego treatment.
I agree about the need to be able to provide quality care without focusing on affordability. I think that the best statement from Capitol Hill that has come out about healthcare reform is that it must be a bipartisan effort. I also hope that Kennedy's legacy can help move us toward rational, reasonable and affordable reform. There are some 4 million people in Texas, alone, without health insurance - more than in any other state. It's an enormous issue, burden and topic of debate, here.
Healthcare reform has been debated for some 40 years, and I expect it will be for quite some time longer.
September 1, 2009 - 6:20pmThis Comment
Great post Alysiak! I'm so sorry to hear about your friend and her brain tumor. What you wrote about Senator Kennedy is pretty much what I've also heard and read, and I too admired his ability to not fear his own death but to accept it and bring his family together. Your links above are also great and full of good information for all of us. Thank you! MIchelle
August 29, 2009 - 11:37pmThis Comment