Q1 Report: Hope for Hoosiers facing cancer

Crystal Hinson Miller, president of IU Health Foundation, is a national leader in healthcare philanthropy. Here, she shares her personal reflections.

Last year, approximately 42,000 people in Indiana heard some form of the sentence, "You have cancer."

While that is one of the most chilling statements a person can hear, it’s not the hopeless diagnosis it used to be. For that, we can thank researchers, physicians and care teams, as well as the many patients who have participated in clinical trials to advance our knowledge and treatment of cancer.

But we also should thank generous donors who support cancer research and treatment, from well-known philanthropists who donate millions of dollars to lesser-known contributors whose gifts are smaller but no less meaningful. Without people moved to give to cancer research and treatment, each year 42,000 Hoosiers would face much bleaker prospects.

The impact of this generosity is experienced in a variety of ways. We see it in the Indiana University School of Medicine Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center, Indiana’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, an honor recognizing the school and IU Health’s shared dedication to groundbreaking care, scientific excellence and community education as well as facilities that support those activities.

We also see this impact in the many cancer centers all across Indiana, in small towns and bigger cities, where cancer patients can get care in their own communities. And we see it in the clinical trials that give patients early access to cutting-edge care and the expertise behind it.

To understand the impact donors have, think for a minute of what a cancer diagnosis could mean if IU Health weren’t the cancer powerhouse it is. First of all, just getting an accurate diagnosis could be difficult. Without the tools, technology and expertise IU Health has at its disposal, a patient with a more unusual or challenging form of cancer might have to travel to another state for the cancer to be identified quickly.

If a patient was forced to leave the state to get a diagnosis, the odds of having a nearby resource for treating that cancer would be slim. That could mean traveling back to that other state – or yet another – to receive care. If, as is common with cancer, the treatment is long and difficult, loved ones might have a hard time being alongside the patient during treatment. All these barriers make it much less likely that the patient could participate in a clinical trial offering life-saving treatments.

I’ve seen in my own family the pain and uncertainty cancer can inflict. When my maternal grandmother was diagnosed with gastric cancer some 50 years ago, the 5-year survival rate was 11%. The initial diagnosis timing provided no options for her treatment due to the late stage of her disease. Today, the 5-year survival rate for gastric cancer is greater than 40% if diagnosed early – and, with advancements in diagnostics and treatment, I know my grandmother’s prognosis could have been different. Beyond my grandmother, I’ve lost my maternal uncle to lung cancer and my maternal aunt to breast cancer. Combined with my mother, who is a 25-year uterine cancer survivor, I recognize this is a diagnosis I – or one of my immediate family members – will also likely face.

Beyond my own family, I think often about the diagnosis of a dear friend’s brother – and how his life could have been significantly different without IU Health and the IU Mel and Bren Simon Cancer Center. With family roots tied to Tell City, IN – but living in North Carolina - he was diagnosed with testicular cancer when he was a college student. Because his parents had gone to IU, he knew about the amazing work of Dr. Larry Einhorn, who has turned testicular cancer’s survival rate from 5% to more than 95%. He traveled to IU Health and was treated successfully – and now has a beautiful family with two children. I often think about how different his family’s story would be without access to the cure Dr. Einhorn developed, and how fortunate families are who live in IN and can access this treatment without having to travel hours away like my friend’s brother.

Living in a state where the nation’s largest school of medicine and the state’s largest health system work in such close collaboration lets Hoosiers benefit from the combination of leading research available at institutes like Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center and unparalleled clinical care delivered by IU Health. It means getting the most leading-edge care close to home and family. It means having access to hope when it could appear in short supply.

And it means being the beneficiary of generosity from donors like you who support the incredible work done in labs, surgical suites, infusion centers, patient rooms and beyond every single day.

Thank you for your support. Through your gifts, you increase the knowledge and expertise that IU Health brings to bear for people facing cancer. You equip our teams with the tools, technology and facilities they need to discover and implement life-saving treatment. And you make it possible for them to complement the phrase “You have cancer,” with another one: "You have hope."