At just 37 years old, Vanessa Heimbecker is desperately trying to avoid the same fate as her mother after finding out her ovarian cancer has come back for the fourth time.
“I’ve fought this for eight years and I will continue to fight until we find a cure,” said Heimbecker.
“I don’t want to die, I don’t. I want to fight and live for my kids.”
The mother of two says at this point, her oncologist has recommended a drug called Avastin or Bevacizumab as a form of treatment but she still hasn’t received it.
“He said if I could give it to you right now, I would give it to you right now. The only thing stopping me is you would have to pay for it at the cost of $8,000 per treatment.”
Now, Heimbecker says she’s not only battling cancer but fighting to have the costly drug covered by the provincial drug formulary, because when all is said and done she’ll need to raise more than $75,000 for the treatment.
In March, she wrote the Ministry of Health and didn’t receive the answers she was hoping for.
Heimbecker was told she not be eligible for this type of treatment through the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency (SCA) drug formulary because she’s had ovarian cancer more than once.
“It’s unfair that you’re sitting there watching other people who have the same cancer you have, have access to it while you’re sitting there not having access to it and the only thing that is stopping you is the criteria, one little thing,” said Heimbecker.
According to Scott Livingstone, president and CEO of SCA, the coverage for cancer therapies for all residents in the province is some of the broadest and best in the country.
Patients are also given access to evidence-based therapies and treatments as quickly as possible, which includes more than 200 drugs on the formulary.
“We follow a national process for drug approval through the pan Canadian Oncology Drug Review program and that program involves experts from across the country reviewing cancer disease state evidence to provide recommendations to the provinces for drugs that should be listed on formulary,” said Livingstone.
Avastin for instance is used as an available treatment for four different cancers but like many cancer drugs is only covered when medical evidence shows it’s most effective.
READ MORE: The Saskatchewan Cancer Agency Drug Formulary as of May 30th, 2016
Therefore, it’s approved for first-line treatment of ovarian cancer but not a second-line setting in combination with other drugs.
“In many, many cases, these are not cancer cures these are drugs that are used to help patients live longer with their disease,” said Livingstone.
“To say that the decisions are strictly based on a financial basis I think is not factual given the fact that the drug budget has almost doubled in five years and we are known in this country for having one of the fastest and broadest approval rates for new cancer drugs in the country.”
Nonetheless, Livingstone admits there are cancer treatments in some situations that are not covered in certain circumstances that a patient may want access to.
“Patients in these situations are looking for hope and they’re looking for options,” he said.
“Sometimes those options may not always align with what the medical evidence is telling us is the best treatment to fund within a public system.”
Without the means to pay for the drug, Heimbecker says she’ll die trying to get treatment if she has to be fundraising each and every dollar.
“When it comes to stuff like this and with cancer, the way I look at it why don’t you just try everything.”
If you would like more information on how to donate, please visit Vanessa’s GoFundMe page.
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