Oncology Care Management Programs for Employers

[Optum logo]

[Cancer Support Program]

If we go back like it's a movie camera, and I look at the past 12 years of my life, my life has become wonderful.

I got married, which was just the coolest. I’ve traveled all over the world. And life has just been fantastic.

In 2006, I was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer, which rarely has a positive outcome.

So I called the Optum Cancer Support Program.

[Patty Migler – Cancer Support Case Manager]

When patients first get diagnosed, like Nancy, they’re lost.

So it’s being able to help support them. Listen to them.

I called Patty and said that my first PET scan came back, and they said that the cancer had metastasized to my spine. 

[Nancy Carruth – Cancer Survivor]

Patty said, "I'm not saying that that isn't true, but I don't think we know enough to come to that conclusion.”

I referred her to one of our Cancer Centers of Excellence, under the Cancer Support Program.

And when they looked at it, they determined that this was not a metastatic lesion from her breast cancer, which, in that case – she was not a stage four.

So we started chemotherapy about two weeks later, and then surgery.

Being able to get Nancy for a second opinion made the difference, and that’s why I think she's here today 12 years later.

Patty was my advocate, my best advocate, because she knew what to expect each step of the way because she's seen it 100 times before.

Nancy and I actually built a friendship through this, which is special.

I think when you know that you can make a difference in someone's life, it helps me to keep going every day and wanting to do that for somebody else.

Wow. Here’s to 12 years. Excellent job, darling. You did wonderful.

[Optum logo | Cancer Support Program]

[My Life. My Choice. My Health. My Wellbeing.]

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