(WXYZ) — Three words, 'You have cancer,' can change a person's life forever. Five years ago, Desiree Swiney heard those three devastating words.
“I was diagnosed with stage 3 Ovarian Cancer in November of 2018,” Swiney said.
But, it's also been four years that she has been cancer-free thanks to surgery and months of chemotherapy treatment. One of the drugs she used called carboplatin is now in short supply nationwide.
“It’s already so hard to treat and to not have the drugs that we know works against it is devastating," Swiney said.
Laura Appel with the Michigan Health and Hospital Association says Michigan Hospitals have been battling this shortage for weeks. Now doctors have to prepare for those difficult conversations with patients and need to decide who would get the life-saving treatment.
“I don't know if any of those conversations actually had to happen," Appel said. "But I know they were under preparation, which of course is extremely difficult to have to even consider.”
Appel says the price for cisplatin is usually $11 per dose, but with the treatments in short supply, prices skyrocket. One Michigan hospital system recently paid $550 a dose.
At the time there are no sign of letting up even though there was hope the shortage would end by June. The Association and patients are urging the FDA and Congress to act as soon as possible.
“It's heart-wrenching for the clinician. It's deeply frightening I imagine for patients. It’s not a circumstance that any of us want to be in," Appel said.
