Dear Ellen,
I am a 38 year old married mother of 4 wonderful children.
I have stage IV breast cancer. I was diagnosed in Oct.08 but dealing with trying to find what was wrong with me for over 6 years.
I was doing well with chemo and holding my own. During this time of my treatments my husband was took off work & placed on permanent disability due to his failing health. He has so many health problems & due to an under active thyroid he has ballooned to over 420 lbs.
I made him promise he would take care of himself so he could raise our children in case something should happen to me. My cancer has took a very bad turn & spread to my bones,lungs,& now they say its in my bone marrow. I had a blood transfusion cause my blood counts were so low I could barely stand or walk.It didn't help & my counts keep dropping.I am scared so much I cannot even express in words Ellen.
We now live on Social Security & they say I need a bone marrow transplant but I am on Medicaid through our local job & family services & they wont cover the charges & bills for such a costly operation. I am O-positive blood type & I am praying for a miracle to happen so I can get a bone transplant in time. I don't want to die & leave my family, not now. I want to spend so much more time with them. My oldest son is 19, then a son who's 15, a daughter who will be 14 & my baby who's 12.Ellen if you could help me show miracles happen? I want to fight & live time is running out. Thank you I pray you can be my angel!!

Dear Ellen,

My Mom and I watch your show all the time. You always make us laugh. You also help alot of people in need. So I was wondering if I could tell you a little about the situation I'm in. It started when I was three years old. I got Spinal Menigitis. I have lived with just having hearing in one ear, but I wear a hearing aid in that ear.I have managed to live a normal life, I have been married had a child and been divorced and worked my whole life. My hearing has currently gotten worse. I have been informed by my doctor that my next option is to have surgery. Bilateral BAHA Surgery (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid)Its an implanted hearing aid. I really need this procedure, my insurance through work says its an elective surgery however my doctor sent them a letter stating if I dont have the surgery, I will be completely deaf in a matter of time. I will not be able to hear my 9 year old daughter or be able to continue to work. Then as you know the surgery is $24,000. If I dont have the surgery then I will have to quit working or get fired which ever comes first. Then lose my daughter to my x husband because I will no longer be able to provide for her. I just wanted to reach out to you and see if you could help me or know of some organization that could help me. I have email and called every organization I can think of and they have all said that do not help with Implantable hearing devices. I am lost and can't afford to have the procedure on my own. The Surgery center also stated they need at least $18,000 up front before I can even have the surgery. If you can help or know someone who can please let me know.
Thank you
Heather Hendry
Gulfport, MS

I saw the Gentle Barn on your show and looked up your website (haven't visited in a while).
I saw PCRM as one of your favorites and the others which is great!
We, as a society have swallowed the lies we've been fed through the media (ads, etc.) and it's refreshing to see all the work you continue to do for all the innocent creatures who are in our care to protect.
My Mom and I used to watch and laugh (great medicine) - she passed away in Feb. 2009.

Keep up the great work!!
Jan
Founder, God's Creatures Ministry

Subject: A Cry for Help to Save a Life

Dear Ellen,

I do not know where to turn and time is of the utmost importance. My cousin at 43 has been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and her journey since her first symptom has been horrific. It is such a shame that in the modern world we live in today, that such an unnecessary catastrophe can take place at the hands of other people and no one seems to care. The victims who are seriously sick do not know where to turn and for many, if they eventually do find that one place that might have made a difference, it is often too late because their illness has progressed too far or their insurance is not accepted. It is such a shame how such a system is allowed to exist.

My cousin, Colleen, is an energetic and motivated young woman from Florida, and the mother of two young children. She has been divorced for about 6 years, and has been in the process of making a better life for her and her two young children. Prior to her diagnosis, she had just begun a new career as a medical technician, after recently completing 10 months of schooling, and 3 months externship in November 2008. In January 2009, Colleen had finally attained her goal of becoming a Certified Medical Assistant and obtaining her X-Ray license (BMO) as well. Shortly after beginning her new career in March 2009, she began experiencing her first symptoms.

Initially, Colleen’s symptoms began with stomach aches, stomach cramps, heart burn, indigestion, and eventually vomiting. At first, it was thought she had a stomach virus, however her symptoms continued, and the pain became increasingly more severe. This continued for the next few months and she lost 48 pounds. After repeated doctor visits, a battery of tests, scans, and ineffective treatments, her new boss, a doctor, told her that she was fine and it was all in her head, to the point that my cousin started doubting herself and questioning if she really was crazy. As a matter of fact, one of her doctors decided to double her dose of Zoloft. How is this possible? Everyone that knows Colleen knew there had to be something wrong, except the doctors. Doesn’t a 48 pound weight loss for unknown reason mean something?

After five months of suffering, enduring the pain, the vomiting, continued weight loss, frustration, and finally taking the advice of her mom (my aunt), Colleen went back to the doctor and is referred to a cardiologist. The cardiologist, who admittedly was confused as to why Colleen she was being sent to him, had stated that if Colleen’s severe pain was associated with her heart, that her heart could not have survived for five months without proper treatment. However, the doctor agreed to give her a proper exam in order to officially rule out the heart, and attempt to get Colleen on her way down the right path to find the real problem. During the exam, the doctor, with his stethoscope, began to listen to her heart and abdominal area, and was amazed at what he heard as he listened to Colleen’s stomach. He described it as a “swishing” sound and said there is definitely something there. He was then totally shocked to find out that no doctor before him had actually listened to Colleen’s stomach, from where the pain had radiated since the beginning.

Finally, after five months of agony, after seeing the right doctor with the newly obtained information from the cardiologist, and after the correct test, Colleen was given the diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer. It was later determined that the tumor could be seen on one of the x-rays taken earlier, but it was missed by the doctors.

Now, since the diagnosis, my cousin has been battling her insurance company, and has been restricted to only receiving her treatment in her home state of Florida, which originally seemed promising by her doctors, but then later their comments were becoming hypocritical. Because it was determined that the tumor had wrapped itself around a blood vessel, surgery was not an option unless the tumor could be shrunk by chemotherapy and radiation. (Maybe, if the diagnosis was found 5 months earlier by competent doctors, surgery would have been an option.) So the plan was to treat Colleen with chemotherapy and radiation in hope that the tumor would shrink, and surgery could become an option. Since treatment began, and after follow up scans and tests, there was no evidence of any spreading to other organs, and dead cancer cells could be seen. Periodically, Colleen also needs to have fluid drained from her abdomen, which when tested, always came back negative for spreading cancer cells. Other tests also revealed that the liver was clean.

During treatment, Colleen is still battling the insurance company for seeking other alternative cancer centers and opinions. She finally gets approved to have a referral to seek consultation at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, where she was now told that the cancer has begun spreading to the liver, so surgery was again not an option. Once again, if Colleen had been able to go earlier, maybe surgery would have still been an option.

We hear and read about so many others that managed to find doctors willing to do surgery at various stages of pancreatic cancer, even when other doctors said it was not an option, and these people have found successful results. One common message among the people plagued with this disease is to not give up, because there are doctors that can make a difference, but how do you get to these doctors without the right insurance coverage, contacts, and money. The bottom line is that just like the cancer is aggressive, so must be the treatment with no time to waste, but for my cousin, it seems that doctors and insurance companies have wasted so much time that Colleen is running out of options.

Yes, we know that Pancreatic Cancer is aggressive, and survival rates are low, but after seeing how my cousin has been treated up to now, I am beginning to wonder if the survival rates really need to be as low as they are, when the system that is supposed to save people is failing them. It is shamefully sad, that after seeing so many doctors, including oncologists, and undergoing so many expensive tests, that a diagnosis could not be determined until a cardiologist listened to her stomach area with a stethoscope.

As a result of my cousin’s past experiences and her persistent determination to beat this fight, I implore you to please help my cousin in any way you can. She deserves (as any human being) to have the best treatment by the best doctors in her time of need. This is pancreatic cancer where time is of the utmost importance and she cannot afford to wait any longer. She needs to be heard and I know there are people out there that can help her. That is why I am writing to you and anyone else I feel can make a difference in my cousin’s battle against this horrible disease. My cousin Colleen has not lost hope and her family and friends have not lost hope, but we need help. My hope is that this letter lands in the hands of that one person who can make a difference and help my cousin to become a cancer survivor. Please, find it in your heart to help Colleen and respond to this letter. Please provide any valuable information, guidance, assistance, procedures, names of doctors, hospitals, medical centers, etc. so that she can be sure to get the proper care.

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Mark

Ellen, If I need a pick-me-up I watch the Ellen show. What a gift to make people smile everyday. I am going to be a grand mother for the first time. My daughter is 38 and having a little boy in Sept. I have a lot of worries though. Her car transmission went out. They are saving for a furnace, which they need by Sept. Now they need to save for a car. Dave Ramsey said only buy used. When it rains it pours. They have been working to get out of credit card dept. She is an animal lover and has 5 cats that needed a home. Getting rid of some is not an option. I wish I could have entered her for the Mother's Day Show but we are to far away in Ohio. Looking forward to more giveaways. I will be watching the show on Friday.

Ellen, I am not accustomed to asking anyone for help but I find myself in a bit of a jam...I am a 60 year old grandmother of 7 - and last year I lost my home, my car, my job and now my health... I have been able to get the medication I need through a "study" but I have to travel over 300 miles (round trip) every other week and my car is not in the best shape...when I lost my car (bankruptcy) I picked up a little '91 dodge shadow for a couple hundred dollars - it has been great to run errands around town - but I fear it may not last the extensive trips I must take every two weeks to get my medication. Could you give an old woman a hand? Nothing big just a good used vehicle? You must get similar requests all the time and I really don't expect you to help but it is nice to be able to send this "trouble" away and hope that the universe will hear ... You rock sissy - and thanks for the laughs cause they help a great deal also.