Survey: Work integral to cancer patients’ well-being
Achildhood friend recently confided in me that he’s fighting cancer but — for fear of his losing his job— can’t finish his treatments until he becomes eligible again for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. He’s already exhausted the maximum 12 weeks of unpaid FMLA leave allowed for this calendar year.
Not surprisingly, finances is the No. 1 reason U.S. cancer patients and survivors want to work, followed by their feeling well enough to work. That’s according to a recent online survey of 902 mostly employed cancer patients and survivors conducted by Harris Poll for the New York-based, 16-year-old nonprofit Cancer and Careers.
Forty-one percent of the 801 employed survey respondents cited health insurance as a primary reason to continue working, up from 28 percent five years ago. Forty-two percent feel they must stay at their current jobs because they need the health insurance; 35 percent are afraid changing would limit their health insurance options.
Chief Mission Officer Rebecca Nellis said her organization commissions annual surveys to offer vital programs and services that will eliminate fear and uncertainty for working people with cancer and their employers. “The data continue to highlight how valuable work is— from a paycheck and benefits to the belief that work aids in treatment and recovery,” Nellis said.
Sixty-five percent of survey respondents say working is an essential coping mechanism, from feeling “normal” or productive, to giving them a routine and keeping their minds off their cancers.
Such was the case with Dana Wilhite Weyandt, a Midwest City High School classmate and breast cancer survivor, who— despite surgery and six weeks of radiation —missed only two days of work. “Work was my savior,” Weyandt said. “I was responsible for over 200 employees, and that kept me on my toes!”
Another classmate, Eva Vasquez Maerten, points to the “incredible friendships and support” her husband has received while battling NonHodgkin lymphoma. In a 2006 article, Ken Maerten, an electrical engineer at Tinker Air Force Base, told me he was surprised at how understanding his boss and co-workers were. Four volunteered to donate leave if he needed it, and people he least expected offered to give blood.
Among respondents to the Cancer and Careers survey, 89 percent are aware prospective employers can’t discriminate against them due to their cancer diagnosis. Still, 22 percent mistakenly believe an employer can require them to disclose their diagnosis before hiring them, while 36 percent of unemployed respondents feel disclosing their cancer diagnosis negatively would affect their changes of getting hired and 39 percent feel prospective employers would treat them differently.
Employers aren’t required to lower standards for employees with cancer, said Nathan Whatley, a labor attorney with McAfee & Taft. But under the Americans with Disabilities Act, they— unless they can prove it’s an undue hardship —must offer reasonable accommodations such as parttime or modified work schedules, which only can be disclosed by the worker.
Remembering Martha
It feels right to write about cancer in the workplace this week, as Friday is the birthday of my good friend Martha Collar, who died of acute leukemia 10 years ago this fall. She would’ve turned 59. The former director of the Oklahoma Safe Kids Coalition, Martha was the consummate professional. While she fought for her life for two years, she continued to work toward state injury prevention laws including one that requires young children to be strapped into booster car seats.
Several months before her death, Martha wrote an essay, “Everything I Need to Know ... I Learned in the Hospital,” which her pastor shared with her congregation. I frequently reflect on her sage advice including this:
•I learned that I didn’t miss work as much as I thought I would. During my recovery at home, I stayed perfectly occupied. People shouldn’t be defined by their work; they are more than what they do for a living.
•I learned that no one is even remotely indispensable. Each of us is a tiny, tiny speck in the universe and when we stop being, the world is not going to stop turning.
•I learned that most everyone takes life MUCH too seriously. Everyone is going to die eventually, and we might as well have fun and laugh and throw a party while we still can.
They’re wise words to embrace, especially since any of us may find ourselves fighting cancer.
In fact, one in two Oklahoma men and one in three Oklahoma women will have cancer at some time in their lives, according to Robert Mannel, director of the Stephenson Cancer Center. Tobacco use, obesity and sedentary lifestyles — all of which are avoidable — are high in our state, Mannel said, and behind half of all cancer deaths.