Dr. Nagourney and Loretta Stamos
On Monday, September 22, 2014, we lost a great ally and a better friend.
Loretta Stamos lost her own fight with cancer, the very disease that she had worked so tirelessly to defeat. I first met Loretta in 1995 when her brother Jake was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. His physicians didn’t offer much hope. At our meeting, I explained my approach to cancer therapy using each patient’s cells to select drugs (EVA-PCD functional profile).
“Let’s do it,” said Loretta.
“Now?” I asked.
“Why not?” she replied. As I would come to know over our 20 year friendship, Loretta didn’t mince words and was not one to take no for an answer.
A simple two drug combination was recommended for Jake, but his physicians declined. Loretta asked if I would assume his care. As I was out-of-network for his HMO, each time we treated her brother, Loretta generously covered the chemotherapy costs. After two cycles of treatment, the pleural fluid stopped accumulating. Jake gained weight and returned to some of his normal activities.
The in-network physicians began to realize that they were on the wrong side of this equation and suddenly offered to continue the treatments at their facility. Jake’s cancer ultimately progressed. His extensive metastatic disease involving his lung and bones was too aggressive for even the best chemotherapy to cure. Despite the sad loss, we had succeeded in showing that every patient deserved the chance to get better regardless of their insurance or finances.
Loretta wondered what would have happened if she had not been there to help. I explained that the laboratory analyses were too costly for me to donate. Though they came in at a fraction of the price of a single dose of chemotherapy, many insurers refused to cover them. Loretta said, “I’m going to make sure that people who need these tests will never be denied.” And the Vanguard Cancer Foundation (VCF) was born.
Months of work, committee meetings and planning sessions culminated in a “A Night in Brazil,” a gala benefit that raised $100,000. John Stamos, Dave Coulier and Bob Saget turned in stellar performances as the MCs and a great time was had by all. More importantly, for the first time we could to say to patients, “We can find the treatment that’s right for you and if you can’t afford it, we’ll give it to you.” With each passing year the fund grew as did the number of patients we could help.
What a luxury to never turn a patient away. What an opportunity to help uninsured and younger patients. What a pleasure to see the good responses, even in some patients considered previously “untreatable.” I was overwhelmed by Loretta’s dedication and the kindness that she and the VCF members showed to patients in need. Every year we would recognize Loretta and her family for their hard work and generous contributions, and every year Loretta would say that she did this because “I made her brother smile.”
There is a silver lining to even the darkest cloud. It was Loretta who put it most poignantly when she defined the mission of the Vanguard Cancer Foundation as providing lifesaving care to “persons of worth but not of means.” The most fitting tribute of all for this noble soul is the more than 400 patients who can thank Loretta Stamos for a second chance at life.