I want to live. And that’s the problem. That I wanted to get married, that I want children, and that I make plans for the future. This is a goddamn problem with me because I should actually be biting the ground by now. My life is not worth a broken penny and I insisted.
Marlena is 168 cm tall. It weighs around 46 kilograms. Is pretty. Dark, shiny hair is close to the head, eyes are expressive, attentive. Tiny silhouette. It got loud in the local press in Bydgoszcz when it poured bitterness on the officials of the National Health Fund on the columns of the newspaper. A girl struggling with melanoma resents them – they do not want to reimburse the drug that saves her life. – I’m too sick for them. Too weak. Not shocking, he says.
But Marlena wants to live. He wants to overcome the disease and finally take care of his youth. – I remember exactly how it all started. It was Easter 2009. The mole on my knee, which I had had since I was born, has grown larger and changed its color. He began to soak with pus and blood. The primary care physician knew immediately what was happening, but refused to be straightforward. She referred to a dermatologist. After the excision of the growths, the specimens were sent for histopathological examination. I was supposed to wait two weeks for the results, but after four days they called me from the clinic telling me that I should come immediately. I was in Bydgoszcz, applying for the university. “What is?” – I got nervous, but obediently returned home.
The next day at the clinic, the doctor gave Marlena the result without saying a word. Malignant melanoma she read. “What does it mean? Is it Latin? ”She asked the doctor. He did not explain. “Please take the result to the oncology hospital in Bydgoszcz as soon as possible. Good luck, ”she heard when she was leaving. At home, she immediately started looking on the Internet. She read: “Melanoma malignum … melanoma … skin cancer … It is highly malignant due to rapid growth, early and multiple metastases, and low treatment compliance.”
– I went dark before my eyes. I called my boyfriend Łukasz. “I have cancer!” I squealed. I saw: he got scared but kept calm. I was 19 then, he was 21. “We can handle it,” he repeated over and over. – You don’t die of a stupid mole!
Marlena demonstrates scars on her knee and neck. I point my slender fingers at the calluses under the skin. – This year it will be three years from the diagnosis. The disease develops. I have metastases. Cancer attacked, among others inguinal and cervical nodes. They were cut out. But there were also whole periods of remission of the disease, especially in the first year after diagnosis, when I was feeling quite well. After removing the growth from the knee, the results were pretty good. The doctor advised me, “Now don’t think about anything.” Do not agitate. Walk systematically to checks and go about your own business.
So it took care of it. She went with her fiance to Germany for strawberries (they were collecting for the wedding), she devised a wedding dress, during lectures at the university she imagined herself in her future work … – Life was racing. It had its own errands and duties to be performed. I treated my cancer as something pressing down, something that stuck to me but would soon be gone. I did not tear my robes over me …
The real terror came when surgical interventions and pharmacological treatment did not bring the expected results. Subsequent metastases weakened the body. The day after her dream wedding, in June 2011, she went to Bydgoszcz for her first chemotherapy. Then another. But the cancer persisted. The last resort was the implementation of immunological treatment. This is the procedure: when other methods fail.
However, the National Health Fund rejected the girl’s request for reimbursement of the costly therapy. The support of oncologists from Bydgoszcz and Warsaw did not help. The treatment of the girl turned out to be too expensive and unprofitable for the officials. – Despite doctors’ prompts, requests and requests to take the treatment, the National Health Fund remained adamant. Doctors say that I am young and strong. The treatment is advisable, you have to try and save, officials – costs too high, a fatal disease. They struck me off the register of survivors. Like the lords of life and death. No, no more, without unnecessary explanations, and then just go on on your own … Currently, after unsuccessful chemotherapy and experimental treatment, a young woman is treated with an innovative vaccine. Only the implementation of immunological treatment, which is consistently denied by the National Health Fund, may prove effective for her.
– I do not think about what is happening to my body. I get up in the morning and I know I have to live on. I have Łukasz and wonderful in-laws with me. I still find wise and dedicated doctors. I don’t think about what will happen tomorrow, but mine here and now is still going on. And I want it to last as long as possible. I do not agree with the death sentence issued against me.
Artur Markowski, MD, a specialist in dermatology and aesthetic cosmetology at the Pomeranian Center of Aesthetic Medicine in Toruń, quotes statistics: – Every ten years the number of cases of melanoma doubles. What are the reasons for this? For dermatologists, it is completely unclear, but it is known for sure that cancer is caused by sunburn, especially those we experienced in childhood. Chronic mechanical irritation of already existing moles and a strong and sudden decline in immunity can also awaken cancer.
How, then, to deal with the birthmarks, growths and moles that we have often had on our bodies since childhood? Artur Markowski advises: – Statistically, 50% of melanoma arises from new birthmarks, which we contracted, for example, on a hot beach … In other cases, it awakens in the already existing ones. Therefore, you should not delete anything yourself. However, you should pay attention to changes in the mole itself and its surroundings, e.g. loss of symmetry of shape, color, appearance of an inflamed areola, rapid thickness growth, bleeding tendencies, and in case of the slightest doubts go to a dermatologist. In order to be treated effectively, melanoma requires prompt diagnosis and intervention.
If you want to help, you can make a donation to the account of the Gwiazda Nadziei foundation (account number: 32 1940 1076 3045 2145 0003 0000 with a note for Marlena)
or
Transfer of 1% of tax, entering in the tax declaration KRS 0000298237, purpose: for Marlena
Text: Joanna Weyna Szczepańska
Also read:
Beware of melanoma!
Melanoma – one diagnosis, two stories