Ensure children with cancer have medications they need

In response to this alarming crisis, the public joined voices with the childhood cancer community to speak up for kids with cancer who can’t afford to miss a single dose of this life-saving drug.

My only child, my sweet, brave and beautiful daughter Michele Ekaterini Ciufecu Broadley, is a forever 24-year-old cancer warrior who was taken from us way too soon. Michele loved to live life. She loved all animals, especially her cat Dusty, and she loved traveling, especially to tropical beaches. Michele fought a threeand-a-half-year battle with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, or ARMS. The cancer was initially found in her left inner forearm on July 26, 2013. Michele was only in remission for three months, and in the fall of 2014 she relapsed with the ARMS spreading to both of her lungs. In the final year of her cancer journey, she was referred to another oncologist who tried a new chemotherapy that seemed to be working for a short time from February to June of 2016.

In Michele’s first battle with cancer, the treatment consisted of 10 and a half months of weekly chemotherapy treatments outpatient and every third week she received three chemotherapy treatments inpatient. In Michele’s second battle with cancer, the treatment consisted of eight and a half months of weekly chemotherapies with the first week being inpatient with all three chemos every three weeks and also weekly outpatient chemotherapies. Through her cancer journey, Michele had six surgeries, daily radiation for six weeks in the first year and then multiple times after she relapsed, a multitude of scans, tests, doctor appointments, etc.

During her fight, she continued college and graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in psychology and minoring in women’s studies. She held a 3.74 GPA with Magna Cum

Laude high honors. She even started graduate school for her master’s degree in social work at Southern Connecticut State University. She wanted to prove that, “Yes, I have cancer; but cancer doesn’t have me,” as she would state on her Facebook page.

Michele Ekaterini passed away on Sept. 28, 2016. She once wrote on a Facebook post, “I’m thankful for my struggle because without it, I wouldn’t have stumbled across my strength.” She continues to be an inspiration to those closest to her with her #TeamM Facebook page.

Families of kids with cancer were thrown into a panic this fall with the news of a national shortage of the chemotherapy drug vincristine. Vincristine is essential in the treatment of most childhood cancers, with no available substitute. In response to this alarming crisis, the public joined voices with the childhood cancer community to speak up for kids with cancer who can’t afford to miss a single dose of this life-saving drug.

The collective voices of all the families and advocates who raised the alarm made a decisive difference. Pfizer increased supply and expedited shipments of the drug to hospitals in need and expects full recovery by January. Additionally, Teva Pharmaceuticals,

which had discontinued production of vincristine, announced that they would re-introduce vincristine to their supply line “as early in 2020 as possible.” While the pharmaceutical industry is often criticized, these two companies should be congratulated for responding to this devastating situation as quickly as possible.

Shortage of a drug as critical as vincristine is never acceptable and requires us to look critically at system flaws and to evaluate long-term solutions. There is much more work to be done to prevent these shortages from happening in the first place. As an advocate with Children’s Cancer Cause, I encourage families in our community to add their voices to this important cause and ensure that no child with cancer lacks life-saving treatments.