Battling Pancreatic cancer can be very costly: physically, emotionally, and financially. Kesha Troublefield’s journey with Pancreatic and Kidney cancer had her encountering each of these issues. However, with the right doctors, help from a spiritual therapist, and assistance through Project Purple’s Patient Financial Aid Program, Kesha was able to receive help when she needed it.
This article references Project Purple’s Patient Financial Aid Program. If you are a patient interested in receiving financial aid, please click here to learn more. If you would like to donate in support of this program, you can do so at this page.
The Jump From Medical Assistant to Patient
Kesha Troublefield has been a medical assistant for more than 12 years, and she was able to catch her early symptoms of Pancreatic cancer because of her profession.
It was during a routine appointment that Kesha mentioned to her doctor that she had noticed that there was discoloration in her urine, and she requested that her doctor do some additional tests.
“I believe [my experience as a medical assistant] helped a lot because I know the proper color of urine after doing many urinalysis,” Kesha said. “So when I saw that it was a unique yellow, and no matter how much water I was drinking, it was not changing.”
Kesha’s doctor ran the extra tests she requested and within 24 hours they called her to request she go to Georgetown University Hospital because her tests showed some markers for Pancreatic and Kidney cancer.
After arriving at the hospital, doctors discovered that her bowel duct had detached from her small intestine and they had to place an emergency, temporary stent to prevent Kesha from going into sepsis. While the doctors performed this surgery, they also were able to swab her pancreas for cultures, which came back inconclusive.
“We had to do [the test] four additional times before it finally resulted positive,” said Kesha. “And so, they misdiagnosed me and thought I had a stomach virus for a week. Then my follow-up was about two weeks later. So altogether, I want to say three weeks after the symptoms is when I got the diagnosis. And during those three weeks, I already had lost like 10, 12 pounds within a short window.”
Once diagnosed with Pancreatic and Kidney cancer, Kesha’s doctors worked together to create the best course of treatment for her. The first step was completing a chemo regimen that ran from May until September, after which she would get surgery to repair her bile duct and resect the tumors on her pancreas and kidney.
“They were able to do both [surgeries] together,” Kesha said. “And they said I had a unique case because they say chemo normally doesn’t get rid of all the cancer cells through the pancreas, but they said when they went in it was a necrosis. So it was just basically dead dried-up tissue.”
Positivity is Key to Recovery
With her journey, Kesha found that maintaining a positive outlook was crucial to her recovery. However, she had to put in the work to get to that positive headspace.
“Sometimes the pain was so intense and mentally I felt like depression started taking over me, to where I felt like if I gotta suffer like this then I don’t want to be here,” Kesha remembers. “And then as I started doing counseling, I think she came to help me connect back to my spiritual roots because she wasn’t a typical therapist, we [would read] scriptures and do things like that. So at that point, I came into acceptance, [thinking] what’s going to be is going to be, but I’m still gonna be optimistic and want to be positive. She got me out of that dark place, and I was like, ‘Okay, it’s time to start fighting.’”
One of the things that was important for Kesha in her cancer journey was gathering the necessary resources about her diagnosis, which allowed her to be her own advocate during treatment.
“The only thing I will advise people to do is to find out all of their resources, like when it comes to their treatment plan, so they can be their best advocate,” she said. “Because you can’t advocate for yourself if you don’t know what else is out there. Just to know all your options, because you can have the best doctor, and sometimes doctors are human, just like we are. They get busy throughout their day, and might not even think, or might not look thoroughly in your chart to see, ‘Oh, you know, this is another alternative, another treatment you can do.’ They may just focus on one thing, so that’s one thing I always tell my patients.”
Kesha says that the other piece of advice that she would give to anyone battling cancer is to remember that you can’t do it alone.
“I will also say get a good support system, have help balancing your appointments so it doesn’t become overwhelming for you, or if you have a caregiver, because those types of things are very important,” she said.
Project Purple Offers Help Through Patient Financial Aid Program
While Kesha was undergoing her treatments for Pancreatic and Kidney cancer, she was able to find help through the Patient Financial Aid Program with Project Purple.
“[Project Purple] was able to give me financial relief towards my rent,” Kesha said. “And then you also gave me resources to other foundations that were able to assist with other matters. Like still up to today, I get assistance with one that helps with groceries on a monthly basis, like a gift card. I can use it whether I want to use it towards groceries or towards the gas [used while] commuting back and forth to my appointments.”
Kesha noted how important she felt it was to have assistance programs for people battling cancer, and how helpful it was for her.
“When you get that type of diagnosis, there’s so many different layers of assistance you need,” she said. “Whether it’s resources financially to help if you’re out of work. Like for me, I was getting short-term disability and I was only getting 60% of my income, and it wasn’t cutting it. To be a taxpayer and you can’t get assistance is just crazy, so just being able to have access to those different resources was helpful.”
For those who are currently battling pancreatic cancer, Project Purple offers support for both medical and day-to-day expenses through the Patient Financial Aid Program. Patient aid has never been denied to qualified patients.
For more information on the Patient Financial Aid Program and how to apply, click here.
You can help pancreatic cancer patients and their families relieve some of the financial burdens that can occur during the course of treatment with a donation to our Purple 360 program. All donations to this particular fund are directed to patient aid. Click here to donate now.
