Category: Archived - Part 14

Cancer transitions: From treatment to survival

By Molly Maher Linda Parmiter has just celebrated her 57th birthday. In June 2006 doctors had given her only one year to live after being diagnosed with stage IV melanoma. This is just another day on the calendar to appreciate, she explained, every one being reason to celebrate. Still, this milestone has significance for her. Its important to me because its one step closer to living as long as my mother, the Thornton resident said. Having recently had a tumor-free scan at a follow up, Parmiter has fortunately become one of many cancer survivors today, with national mortality rates of…

Linda Parmiter’s story

By Molly Maher Linda Parmiter imagines different cartoon for each stage of her melanoma treatment. She said she could visualize the drug as a character, battling her cancer. One drug caused her skin to flake, so she imagined it as Pig Pen from Peanuts. Another, very powerful chemotherapy drug started with the letter T, and so she saw a cartoon capital T with muscled arms fighting. Unfortunately, it ended up fighting her healthy side a bit in the meantime. Lastly came the combination treatments that finally shrunk her cancer. That was a Pac Man, munching the tumors away as it…

Maia Rogers’ story

By Molly Maher Every Wednesday, Maia Rogers goes to her regular breakfast spot down the road from her childrens schools. Often she is joined by friends or sometimes by her son home from school with a cold, but on this day she is alone, her first day free of an oxygen tank since a bout with pneumonia. Rogers said this weekly breakfast is one way she has slowed her pace to enjoy life after being diagnosed with cancer. Though she mocks the clich in her feelings, she said cancer has changed her perspective. Youve just had a life-changing illness, she…

Opinion: 30 percent for 30 percent

By C.J. (Dian) M. Corneliussen-James The most devastating and feared breast cancer is metastatic (stage IV) breast cancer. This occurs when breast cancer spreads to distant, non-adjacent parts of the body. It strikes 30 percent of breast cancer patients and is fatal, taking lives on average within two to four years of diagnosis. Clearly, ending death from metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is of critical importance not only to those living with it, but also to anyone who has had, or may at some point develop breast cancer. Unfortunately, research for MBC is vastly underfunded. Indeed, research for all metastasized cancers…

Doctor coaches cadre of immigrant women

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon When a robber pointed a gun at Oumar Ouattara while he was working the graveyard shift at a busy 7-Eleven on Denvers East Colfax Avenue, Ouattara begged the gunman not to shoot and wondered why he had ever left his native Ivory Coast. Like many immigrants, Ouattara had to take any job he could to survive after arriving in Colorado. Unlike some immigrants, Ouattara was highly educated and had left behind a good life in his native Africa. A doctor, he was married and owned a four-bedroom home. On a lark, Ouattara entered the annual U.S….

Opinion: Ryan plan all about budget, but also health care overhaul

By Bob Semro Many people dont realize that the budget proposal put forth by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in April, is the also the most significant piece ofhealth care legislation since the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Even though the Ryan budget plan as now constructed is not likely to become law, it represents an official alternative and warrants real debate. Most of the conversation has centered on changes to Medicare, but the impact on other federal health care programs and the Affordable Care Act itself is even more profound. Heres how…

Refugees find path back to medicine

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon After arriving in the U.S., the Cuban refugees darkest moments came when he had to scrub dishes and install wood floors. He missed being respected in his community and practicing medicine, especially caring for babies. Then, when he moved to Denver in 2007 after brief stints in Miami and New Mexico, the doctor with nearly 15 years of medical training in Cuba who is a specialist in both family medicine and radiology, couldnt get a single employer to call him back. All Dr. Edilberto Edy Diaz Rodriguez wanted was a basic health care job like drawing…

Opinion: Health care exchange key bipartisan legislative victory of 2011

By State Sen. Betty Boyd Americas health care system is good in many ways, but affordable and easy to navigate it is not, especially for Coloradans in the individual and small-group health insurance markets. Thats why Republican Rep. Amy Stephens and I set aside political differences this session to pass Senate Bill 200 creating the Colorado Health Benefits Exchange. The health exchange is a bipartisan, uniquely Colorado solution to the challenges in the health care industry in our state. In fact, it is the only exchange bill in the country to have passed through split chambers, a testament to Colorados…

Fleeing death threats, Iraqi surgeon starts over

By Diane Carman Dr. Muthanna Jabbar was approached by some men outside his home in Iraq on the day his life changed forever. They pulled me over and said, Are you Muthanna? Quit working with the Americans or were going to kill you. Jabbar turned and walked toward his home a few yards away. I was almost closing my eyes, anticipating a bullet or something in my head, he said. When I reached my kitchen, I thought, Its a miracle. Nothing happened. They left. It was just the first of many miraculous circumstances that led him to Fort Collins, Colorado…

Opinion: Immigrants bring valuable skills to health care system

By Susan Downs-Karkos Each year Colorado becomes the new home to immigrants and refugees from across the world, bringing a vast diversity of experience and perspective to our state. Their health care interactions have continued to demonstrate the need to strengthen health literacy, health system navigation and health promotion activities among newcomer populations while working with the health care system to consider the implications for services. Integrating into a new community is never easy, and differences in language and culture typically make the task a stressful one. Of all the community institutions immigrants and refugees have to learn to navigate,…