Dr. Rose Marie Thomas Heal and Swing

 

“Never waste a good crisis,” says Dr. Rose Marie Thomas, pediatrician extraordinaire of 25 years, on Dr. Una’s Doctors Changing Medicine podcast. (View the episode here: https://youtu.be/tcfoXTXFEDw .)

 

True to her authentic self, Dr. Rose Marie has chosen to embrace positivity and possibility despite her recent diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Some facing this challenge would shy away, mourn, and dwell on scarcity & loss of control. Dr. Rose Marie has chosen to embrace what is and use it to help others.

 

She shared with me a recent experience in which she was sitting on her balcony and could hear “God talking to me. He said, ‘I’m filling your cup to overflowing & flowing out’ so that I can fill others. I know there’s a plan and a testimony, and I will use this experience to be a speaker and an advocate in a way I never have before. I feel people are blessing me so that I may be a blessing to others.”

 

Dr. Rose Marie Thomas is the founder & CEO of Frontier Pediatrics, serving the families in Trinidad & Tobago, where she passionately dispenses her distilled wisdom to help parents achieve full potential for their children.

 

Now the entire island has rallied to help Dr. Rose Marie, as has her ever-widening circle of friends, families, and strangers - all asking how they may best help - which is why we’ve created this GoFundMe page.

 

Due to increasing symptoms of gastric outlet obstruction, Dr. Rose Marie returned to her pediatric residency alma mater at the University of Miami, and underwent a comprehensive consultation and evaluation by Dr Maria Bartholomew’s Multidisciplinary Trinidad-Miami Team.  Recommendation is to proceed with laparoscopic gastro-jejunal bypass surgery with Prof Dilip Dan in Trinidad on Wednesday 29 June 2022,  to help alleviate symptoms, with the hope she will be able to return to eating solid foods. The tumor is close to the superior mesenteric artery, so a Whipple procedure is not an option. Following surgery, 12 weeks of intensive chemotherapy will be started, 2-3 weeks post-op.

 

Dr. Rose Marie’s international health insurance does not cover care or treatment at the University of Miami, so we hope to cover the cost with this fundraiser.

 

We aim to help this amazing human being restore her quality of life and return to doing what she loves: dancing, art, design, and caring for her beloved pediatric families.

 

“I realize I’m not in control. We have a saying on our island, ‘wherever it’s hung, it swings.’ “

 

I hope we can all come together and donate any amount - large or small - to allow Dr. Rose Marie to swing a little more freely.

 

We love you Dr. Rose Marie Thomas, and I look forward to when we WILL dance again!