Getting there matters: What my experience with breast cancer taught me
I call August of 2014 my month of terror. I was at home watching the Tom Hanks movie Captain Phillips with my husband when I felt a lump in my breast; a hard, bulging growth that was impossible to ignore. Just two weeks earlier, I had an annual check-up, which included a breast exam, and my physician didn’t find anything problematic. I wasn’t going to let it go, so I called my doctor the next morning and scheduled a mammogram.
The next month was one of the scariest periods in my life. After dozens of scans, biopsies and appointments with oncologists and surgeons, I joined the 1 in 8 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. As a mother to a 4-year old and a 6-year old, I was utterly terrified of my Stage 3 diagnosis and feared I was destined for the worst possible outcome. There was no history of breast cancer in my family, so I had no point of reference. The best way for me to feel in control of my new reality was to research everything about the disease and understand all of my options.
I wanted a second opinion. My doctor was great and close to home, but after 20 years of working in healthcare, I knew I needed to speak with specialists at an academic medical center, which was over an hour away. That’s when it hit me: if I could get better medical care at that center, and chose to go there for treatment, how would I get there? I was facing over a year of exhausting treatment — chemotherapy, radiation, specialty drug infusions, and multiple surgeries — and there was no way I could drive myself. I had a full-time job, two young children, a husband with his own career, and no nearby family. Treatment takes so much out of you that public transportation wasn’t an option. In other words, I had no easy way to get there and back.
Thankfully, I am blessed to have a large, loving family that continually came in from out of town to help — dropping whatever they had going on in their lives to ensure I could get to and from treatment. After a long 18 months, I was one of the lucky ones and the cancer was gone. But the challenging and even burdensome experience of finding reliable transportation stuck with me. I was a healthcare executive with resources and a support network, yet I was overwhelmed by how to navigate the situation. How much more difficult would it be if I were, for example, a young mother on Medicaid, without access to any transportation whatsoever?
This was the first time I really understood that getting there matters.
Eliminating barriers to care
When people talk about the factors that most impact health, transportation is rarely discussed. Yet, every year, 3.6 million Americans miss a medical appointment because they lack access to transportation. On average, these individuals are disproportionately lower income and older, often with chronic illnesses/disabilities.
When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014, rideshare was a relatively new concept and Lyft wasn’t around in my town. But today, healthcare organizations are increasingly adopting Lyft as a more reliable, convenient and cost-effective transportation solution for patients across the country. This is not only improving access to care, but is also helping patients get diagnosed and treat conditions they may not have known existed.
Helping women access preventative screenings
One of the scariest parts of my experience as a breast cancer patient was the feeling that I was losing control. After my diagnosis, I was no longer in charge of my own life. You are brought into another world and leave your “real” life behind. And for most people, it’s a world that you don’t know how to navigate.
Lyft can’t help patients make sense of the daunting labyrinth of diagnoses and treatment options, or the emotional toll that cancer takes on individuals and their families. But we can help you get there. Because transportation is the last thing anyone should have to worry about in that situation.
My experience and the realization I had is ultimately what led me to join Lyft and lead its healthcare team. It’s why I continue to push for better access to health through partnerships with leading organizations across the country, including the American Cancer Society.
And it’s also why this fall, I’m excited to share that Lyft is teaming up with healthcare providers across the U.S. and Canada to provide free rides for mammogram appointments during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. These rides will be available in select locations, including Chicago, Houston, New York, Ottawa, Toronto and Washington DC. Details on how to access these rides can be found here.
Early detection of breast cancer can save lives, and both awareness and access to mammograms are critically important to reduce mortality rates. We know that Lyft can help patients access the healthcare they need to live healthier and happier lives. If even one woman is able to detect her breast cancer earlier than I did, and get on the road to beating it because of this initiative, my own cancer journey will have been worth it.
