Health Care Story – Wendy Wass

I’m a fighter

My name is Wendy Wass and I live in Derry, New Hampshire. I’m 55 years old, and I’m a multi-cancer survivor with genetic defects in my immune system. I currently pay $1,000 out of pocket for my prescriptions and medical supplies – after Medicare and my husband’s health coverage – and I want more help for people in this country in a similar plight.

I was only 20 years old when I had a partial mastectomy. By then, I was already used to having health problems. I’m what is called a DES baby. When my mother tried to still morning sickness, she’d take the drug DES. It wasn’t known until much later that both DES and the similar drug thalidomide cause birth defects. That’s how we got flipper babies and children with stunted development. I was on the luckier end physically, but my entire life I’ve had a poor immune system and difficulty with medications.

This came to a head when I was 29 years old and diagnosed with colon rectum cancer. I was extremely young for this diagnosis, and physically had a lot of trouble with the treatment. My immune system already weak, the barbaric way chemotherapy was administered back then nearly destroyed my strength altogether. My health was so poor that I spent three years in the hospital. Hairnets, booties and more serious measures still could not shield me from exposure. It took so much time to get my health back on track.

It also took a lot of money.

I had health insurance when I went in for the cancer treatment, but the costs were so high that I maxed out the insurance. After three brutal years of battling for my life, I walked out of the hospital weighing 76 pounds and carrying the weight of $250,000 in outstanding medical bills just for the hospital.

I had no support network. My father had passed away while I was in the hospital, and my aunt had suffered a devastating stroke. The hospital pointed me to the welfare center. I’ll never forget my experience. I had no money and no support, but I told the center that I didn’t want money or food stamps, I just wanted a voucher for the three drugs I needed to continue living. I asked them to help me pay for the prescriptions for one month.

I was told that the programs were full up.

I didn’t know what to do. I knelt down and said, “I am begging you for my life.” The response was the same: they could not help me get those prescriptions.

What happened next in my life has forever changed me, just as my own health care story has made me aware that the delicate balance of life can be determined by whether or not you have access to health care coverage.

I got the courage to call on each of my father’s friends and put my health care experience out in the open. They responded to my call for help. Working together, they rallied and got me the assistance I needed in those dangerous few months after I first left the hospital. If I hadn’t had their support, I would not be here today. It is because my father’s friends said yes that I now dedicate myself to helping others in my community overcome the obstacles in their life.

I act as a resource for people who have cancer or are in hospice care – doctors in my area call on me to talk people through the different treatments and ways of dealing with it. But I am a clearinghouse for much more than cancer recovery. My desire to give back what has been given to me has led me to connect returning soldiers with free counseling for veterans. I help fill out paperwork, contest insurance denials and look over medical records for anyone who needs help. You know how hard it is to get a wheelchair ramp installed if a loved one has a stroke? People don’t know where to go, and they fear hearing that the services they need, they can’t afford.

I know that fear, too. After I walked out of the hospital in my early 30’s with a quarter of a million dollars of debt, I worked two jobs and continued to weaken my health just to cover the payments. It was adding up so quickly that I was barely paying the interest down. Finally, at the age of 37, I realized that my life was wasting away because I had the misfortune to have health problems beyond my control.

I filed for medical bankruptcy. I said that I could not afford to pay $3 per aspirin I’d been given over the three years of intensive recovery. I kept my credit card out of the bankruptcy paperwork, feeling that I could pay for costs I had willingly incurred. The bankruptcy was not something I’d ever wanted to do, but the high cost of health care in this country made it necessary.

They system we have forces people to choose between quality of life and quantity of life. For examples, if you’re on disability or social security, you’re getting a little bit of money each month. If you have prescription drugs to buy, that money is gone before you’ve paid the bills. People have to choose between not being able to afford the prescriptions or breaking the law to work under the table so they can pay for the prescriptions AND put food on the table. That’s a terrible position to put people in, because they have no choice. They want to live.

God bless my husband. It’s often that we put our own finances into helping the people we come across. He knows the work I’m doing for others and simply says, as long as our bills are paid and there’s some set aside for our old age, keep doing it. We’ve been there ourselves.

I’ve been attending events to ask the presidential candidates what they are going to do about the health care crisis in this country. Why do you have to give up the American Dream because a catastrophic illness has put you so far back financially, you can’t catch up. We need a health care plan that helps families manage health care. I’m calling on each of the presidential candidates to ensure access to quality, affordable health care for all Americans.