Help with Legal & Medical Expenses for Jesi

Hi all, my name is Marty Bender, Jesi Bender (Uribe) is my wife. I'll start off by saying it truly pains me to write this as we're never ones to ask anyone for help. For those of you who don't know, Jesi was diagnosed with cervical cancer earlier this week. We're still waiting on advanced imaging to be done to know whether it has spread, but if it has not spread she's looking at having a radical hysterectomy done to hopefully remove the cancer, with the possibility of requiring chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

The reason I am creating this is that we are facing a true financial hardship. While there's never a good time to get cancer, there really couldn't have been a worse time. After Jesi delivered Mackenzie in May of 2020, she went on an extended medical leave for postpartum and exhausted all of her state disability benefits. Doctors have told us that Jesi will require a radical hysterectomy in the next month meaning that the 6+ weeks she's going to be required to be out of work (best case scenario) will be almost entirely unpaid time off after her sick and vacation time are exhausted. I am 100% disabled through the VA and currently unable to work. This has led me to write this and put my pride to the side for the benefit of my family.

The reason it also says legal fees is because of the story of how Jesi was diagnosed. Beginning in November of 2020 Jesi began complaining to her primary care doctor that she was having a lot of irregular bleeding despite being on birth control. Her primary care doctor consulted with her OBGYN and the OBGYN said "tell her to change her birth control if she doesn't want to bleed" and left it at that despite the fact that Jesi had been on this particular birth control for years without any issues. Then again in February 2021 Jesi went back to her primary care doctor with complaints of vaginal pain and irregular bleeding and was told that she needed to schedule an appointment with her OBGYN. In April 2021 Jesi went to visit with her OBGYN and made complaints again about irregular bleeding, extreme pain, etc. The doctor's suggestion was to "change soap, laundry detergent, and wear loose fitting clothing" aka he dismissed her concerns. I was upset with this as she wasn't getting better and I told her to schedule another appointment with him and that I was going to attend. So in May 2021 she was seen once again by her OBGYN with me present. Everything I brought up he immediately dismissed saying "this isn't that, stay off of Google." Jesi once again complained of irregular, frequent bleeding and extreme pain and he ran a vaginal swab for STD's and vaginitis. In her records he wrote a diagnosis for vaginitis, even though the vaginitis panel ultimately came back as negative.

Frustrated with her care Jesi said she gave up trying to get answers but I wasn't done. For those who know my story, my mother passed away at age 39. The tragedy was that my mother diagnosed herself years before the doctors ever did. Her primary doctor was so dismissive of her concerns that she actually wrote in my mom's medical chart that she needed to see a psychiatrist and not a medical doctor. Frustrated by years of medical issues not improving she finally got accepted to go to the MAYO clinic. There she was finally diagnosed with Lupus (SLE) and told that it was terminal, she passed away soon after. The thing is that lupus when caught early on can be managed and most people can live a decently long life. I was 15 when I got my permit so I could drive my mom to many of her doctor's appointments and I wish I had spoken up then but instead I trusted the doctor's to help my mom. So when I saw Jesi not getting answers, I wasn't about to just let this go. I called back to Lompoc Valley Medical Center and asked that they schedule her with a different OBGYN (they have 3) and was told that the doctors do not see each other's patients once they've established with another OBGYN. I called the office manager for the clinic and she confirmed that the policy was in fact that they did not do in house second opinions on their colleagues patients. When I commented that "so they're putting their ego and pride over patient care, and you're ok with that?" her answer was "well when you put it like that it sounds bad but that is absolutely the policy and there's nothing I can do about it." Once again, Jesi was left hurting, bleeding, and without answers. I ultimately called 17 different OBGYN's offices literally begging them to get Jesi in but every office had a 6+ month wait. I had all but given up myself when late one evening we got a call from a doctor who said she had been told about me calling everyone and she wanted to know what she could do to help. She agreed to see Jesi the next week and she was nothing short of amazing. She took Jesi's complaints seriously, ran several tests, did a full PAP smear and exam. After the exam she sat us down in her office and talked about possibilities and what could be causing the issues and promised Jesi that she would get to the bottom of it. The next week we were told that the PAP showed abnormal cells and that Jesi would need to be scheduled for a colposcopy where they would need to take some biopsies. The procedure was scheduled right away and the biopsies were collected. Jesi told the doctor "whatever results you get, don't make me wait, please just call me." So within 48 hours the doctor called Jesi and told her the news that no one ever wants to hear, that she in fact had adenocarcinoma cervical cancer. Within days she was scheduled for a CT with contrast and an ultrasound. 

Today, she met with her gynecological oncologist for the first time and was told that the cancer involved about 70% of her cervix but hopes were high that it had not spread but that to be sure additional tests (PET & MRI) would have to be done. Best case scenario the cancer is stage 1B2 and the treatment plan is a radical hysterectomy. I asked the oncologist “based on what you’ve seen, how long has she had this” and his response was that it was a slow growing cancer and that based on how involved her uterus was, that it had likely been there for years. Which got me wondering, Jesi had had PAP smears done yearly so how is it that it was missed. And when I went through her medical records I discovered something shocking. In 2019, Jesi’s PAP smear results read “Interpretation: Abnormal: ATYPICAL GLANDULAR CELLS (AGC) – ENDOCERVICAL TYPE” I spoke with two OBGYN’s who were both shocked because this finding is extremely rare, as low as .18% of all PAP smears have this finding, and of those that do 20%-50% have a finding of intraepithelial neoplasia or adenocarcinoma. So as it turns out this test over 2 years ago was the red flag that something was wrong. Both OBGYN’s stated that this finding should have 100% of the time been immediately scheduled for a colposcopy. That’s 2 years of this cancer growing and spreading when the doctor knew, or should have known about it. And then in 2020 her PAP states “Specimen Adequacy: Endocervical component absent” which according to the guidelines states that when a previous PAP is abnormal, the test should have been repeated, which wasn’t done so yet again the doctor messed up. And then, a patient who has had these abnormal PAP smears in the past that indicate possible cancer, and is complaining of irregular bleeding and vaginal pain which both indicate possible cancer, but doesn’t do any additional testing is just beyond me. 

So that said we did contact an attorney. One of the OBGYN’s even stated that he’s never encouraged someone to consult an attorney but this was REALLY bad and that we needed to find someone. So while my main focus is on getting Jesi better, the hospital is run by the county so there’s only a 6 month window to file an intent to sue before you lose the ability to so time is of the essence to get the process started. But therein lies the problem, that even though medical malpractice cases are contingency, the attorneys won’t take the case without first getting an independent medical opinion which is paid for by the client. In our case the estimate was $2,000-$3,000+.

So all in all, we’re facing some pretty steep financial challenges in the weeks and months to come and we would be eternally grateful to all who can help us through this difficult time and hopefully be able to pass it on when we can put this chapter of our life behind us. Even if you can’t donate, a share can help us get the word out to find additional donors. We love and appreciate all of you who we call friends or family, and if we don’t know you you’re generosity is truly a blessing. Thank for reading and I’ll keep this updated as things unfold so you can follow along as things progress.