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July 8, 2005

My mothers health

Hi all......has been a long time....will not bore you with all the details as to why, but am asking for your help.

My mother has COPD and is getting worse-there are some clinical trials going on in various locations but they do not want to take her because she had the upper lobe of her right lung removed several years ago. They do have a stent that they can put into the lung that will improve her breathing thereby improving her quality of life and hopefully prolonging her life.....I am pasting a copy of the letter that I am faxing to Senator Clintons office in the hopes of enlisting her help, I have also contacted pulmonary medicine at UNC in the hopes of getting their attention. Any other ideas?
All of us have had to deal with our various health problems and I thought what better place to ask for help? Thank you in advance for any help you can offer or any suggestions of whom to contact-if you want more information feel free to email me.
To whom it may concern:

My name is Lisa Kaelin. My mother has COPD which is a devastating lung disease. I am only now becoming educated in regards to the insidiousness of this illness.

In September of 2001, at the Miami Heart Institute, my mother had her upper right lobe of her lung removed. They were only supposed to remove it if it appeared cancerous-it did not and was not, however they removed it anyway stating to her that they did this in case it would have became cancerous later.

There is alot of research going on regarding COPD and ways to treat it, and a very promising treatment involves the placing of a stint in the lung to help keep the airways open. My mother would not only benefit from this procedure but alot could be learned from her in the area of how to take care of these patients who have had prior lung surgery as well.

My mother has literally had to fight her entire life and has reached a place where her life is calm except this area. For eighteen years she was a battered woman, living a life of fear. Finding the courage to leave with my brother and myself was one of the hardest decisions she had ever faced. I had demons of my own that I had to deal with and that resulted in her taking care of two of my children to this day-she has given so much of her life to others and to help others and she deserves the chance to benefit from this trial.

I do not reside in New York State, I do however reside in the United States and know from her eight years as First Lady, that health care and equal opportunity for all to the best health care is a cause that Senator Clinton is passionate about, it is my fervent hope and prayer that she will if not intervene on my mothers behalf for her to be able to be part of this trial, then at least advise me how to proceed to get my mother the chance that she needs. Her doctor told her recently that he wished all of his patients would fight this disease as hard as she has. She still is active with her church and her family and would love to be able to be even more active.

There are many people in this country going without the health care that they need and I know that, I wish there was something I could do to change that, but I can do everything in my power to change the health care that my mother is getting. Allowing her to participate in this trial of the stints would not only benefit her but would allow the doctors the chance to study someone who has this particular problem with the upper right lobe removed.

If you personally can not help me, can you suggest other avenues for me to persue?

Sincerely,

Lisa Kaelin

lkaelin34@yahoo.com

Posted by Lisa at 7:28 PM | Comments (1)