WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. — A local breast cancer patient has been fighting to get access to a life-changing drug for months. When nothing else was working, she turned to 11 Investigates.
Cami McDonald of Westmoreland County is a wife, mother and grandmother. For the last seven years, she’s been fighting breast cancer. She was first diagnosed in 2018 and relapsed in 2020. She’s currently stage four. A few months back, her cancer stopped responding to treatment.
Through additional testing, her doctors discovered a gene mutation in her cancer. It is known as an ALK mutation. Her doctors thought they were out of options, but that mutation makes Lorbrena, a drug designed to treat lung cancer, a possible treatment option.
McDonald’s doctors got her a one-month trial and say it made an immediate difference.
Her tumor, energy and overall wellness improved within weeks.
Then, Medicare denied coverage of the drug. After several appeals, they ultimately learned
Medicare would not cover Lorbrena because it is not FDA-approved to treat breast cancer.
Without insurance coverage, doctors estimated the medication would cost McDonald between $10,000 and $50,000 each month.
We shared McDonald’s heartbreaking story in September.
“I want to be here for my family. I want to live my life,” McDonald said at the time through tears.
Pfizer’s compassionate care program was her only hope. But at the time of our story,
McDonald had already been denied once, and the company was no longer responding to her medical team.
“It seemed like there was just no way they were gonna change their minds. My time was going to be very limited,” McDonald said.
She never gave up hope.
“I’d been emailing and being very annoying to Pfizer for four months,” said Dr. Sarah Miller, attending physician at the Allegheny Health Center Cancer Institute. “And it was less than 24 hours after this aired that, you know, I got the email. … It was one of the best days of work ever!”
Miller said she could not wait to tell McDonald the news and breathed a huge sigh of relief a few weeks later.
“Once we had the tracking number, we were all in for telling her. And that was a good day,” Miller said.
She was able to hand McDonald her new medication last week.
“I hugged her, and I couldn’t let go,” McDonald said. “It just felt like she was handing me a new chapter of my life. … When I got to the car, I took my first dose."
With the FDA’s blessing, AHN essentially created a clinical trial just for Cami. Her medical team will keep detailed notes and records and report back to Pfizer. McDonald’s case could help save other lives in the future.
“It may not cure her, but it can give her a good quality of life for a long amount of time,” Miller said.
“I want to thank them. I’m gonna try not to cry. These are the kinds of things that make me emotional,” McDonald said. “I don’t know how much time I have, but I do believe that this is gonna extend my life.”
She credits Dr. Miller and her team for refusing to give up.
“I’m eternally grateful to them, because they would not give up. And the news story that you did. I really believe those were the things that made the difference,” McDonald said.
“What was it like sharing that news with your kids?” 11 Investigates reporter Jatara McGee asked.
“They cried! Some of them cried,” McDonald said. “And that’s the good kind of tears. They’ve been through enough of the hard tears over the last seven years.”
It’s her family and her faith that kept hope alive, the reasons she says she continues to find the strength to keep fighting.
“I love Jesus. I know about heaven, and I know about where I’m gonna go. But I don’t want to go there yet,” she said, laughing.
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