Please Help Jennifer Beat Breast Cancer
Donation protected
Mother. Wife. Daughter. Sister. Athlete. Health nut. Amazing cook. Contagious laugh. Big heart. Warm smile. My best friend. Now struck with cancer.
Jennifer is known by many names, hailed by many adjectives, and loved by many souls, and so it breaks my heart and stains my cheeks to tell you all that Jen, yes, our beloved Jennifer, has breast cancer.
At 45 years young and in the best shape of her life, our physically active Jennifer who spends 7 days a week in the gym doing high intensity and weight training workouts and topping the scales at 110 lbs was the absolute last person I could have guessed would be sick—let alone stricken with cancer.
And yet the biopsy confirmed the unimaginable.
Due to her young age and the aggressiveness of cancer, all the breast specialists she has spoken with have all agreed on the same verdict:
Mastectomy. Chemotherapy. And Radiation. For the next 5 years. With Hormone Replacement Therapy for the rest of her life.
Adding insult to injury, even more tests are needed to determine if the cancer has spread to her lymph nodes, lungs, bones, and beyond, and thus more tests were ordered—an MRI, CT scan, PET scan, and bone density scan, post-haste.
And that’s where everything stopped.
Jen’s health insurance, Aetna International, which was paid for in full, has refused to pay at all. Even though Jen is healthy and active and has no preexisting conditions whatsoever, Aetna has done everything in their power to prove just how hypocritical their “health care” really is.
To date of this campaign, it’s been 7 weeks since Jen’s crippling diagnosis and 7 weeks of calling Aetna everyday to get them to pre-approve these much needed tests. Even Jen’s doctors have been speaking with Aetna almost daily to send them more and more paperwork per Aetna’s requests to prove that this was not a preexisting condition.
Aetna has denied Jen over and over again, coming up with some new faulty excuse as to why they will not be covering her for anything at all, including the doctor’s appointments, blood work, biopsy, and imaging already completed! Not only is Aetna ignoring important paperwork and notes from Jen’s doctors proving that there are no preexisting conditions, the Aetna medical directors are now coming up with accusations of “missing mammograms from 2018” which were never performed, just so they don’t have to pay for Jen’s health and her much needed tests.
Aetna’s "suggestions" for the next steps? Their exact words:
“We realise that this decision will be of disappointment to you and apologise that our response could not have been more favourable in this instance.
Many thanks and kind regards.”
Without further testing, it's hard to say what the next steps are, but we are at a loss of words and are at a loss of hope. It's terribly upsetting overall, seeing how Jen is the healthiest person I know and the last person I could imagine with cancer, and not to mention the added stresses of waiting for health insurance to pre-approve these tests that Jen clearly needs and wholeheartedly deserves.
Jen has spoken with HealthCare.gov in hopes of changing health insurance, but unfortunately open enrollment isn’t until many months later, and many months is not something she can wait around for.
That being said, Jen has to take matters into her own hands. That means paying for everything out of pocket. Just to put things in perspective, a breast MRI alone is $2,270. And that’s without medical interpretation. A PET scan is $6,800. And a mastectomy with reconstruction surgery followed by chemo and radiation is $200,000+.
Jen might have to leave the country to afford the health care that Aetna has denied to her. India, Thailand, Mexico, and Israel are in her sights to get her the treatment she desperately needs—at half the cost of US prices. This is her last resort, but it just may be the only option that's left.
Aetna has declined payment for all treatment for Jen’s previous appointments and tests, as well as anything else related to her cancer treatment. The bills will just keep coming in and accruing more debt in a most crucial time that should be solely spent on getting Jen better and cancer-free.
Why did this happen to her? Why is Aetna doing this to her? And, most importantly of all, what can WE do?
Even though I pride myself as a writer, I am at a complete loss for words. I know no other way to help. From the bottom of my heavy heart I ask you to:
Please help a mother by sharing this campaign.
Please help a daughter by praying for our girl.
Please help my best friend by never giving up hope.
Please help Jennifer beat breast cancer by donating to this campaign.
Jennifer is known by many names, hailed by many adjectives, and loved by many souls, and so it breaks my heart and stains my cheeks to tell you all that Jen, yes, our beloved Jennifer, has breast cancer.
At 45 years young and in the best shape of her life, our physically active Jennifer who spends 7 days a week in the gym doing high intensity and weight training workouts and topping the scales at 110 lbs was the absolute last person I could have guessed would be sick—let alone stricken with cancer.
And yet the biopsy confirmed the unimaginable.
Due to her young age and the aggressiveness of cancer, all the breast specialists she has spoken with have all agreed on the same verdict:
Mastectomy. Chemotherapy. And Radiation. For the next 5 years. With Hormone Replacement Therapy for the rest of her life.
Adding insult to injury, even more tests are needed to determine if the cancer has spread to her lymph nodes, lungs, bones, and beyond, and thus more tests were ordered—an MRI, CT scan, PET scan, and bone density scan, post-haste.
And that’s where everything stopped.
Jen’s health insurance, Aetna International, which was paid for in full, has refused to pay at all. Even though Jen is healthy and active and has no preexisting conditions whatsoever, Aetna has done everything in their power to prove just how hypocritical their “health care” really is.
To date of this campaign, it’s been 7 weeks since Jen’s crippling diagnosis and 7 weeks of calling Aetna everyday to get them to pre-approve these much needed tests. Even Jen’s doctors have been speaking with Aetna almost daily to send them more and more paperwork per Aetna’s requests to prove that this was not a preexisting condition.
Aetna has denied Jen over and over again, coming up with some new faulty excuse as to why they will not be covering her for anything at all, including the doctor’s appointments, blood work, biopsy, and imaging already completed! Not only is Aetna ignoring important paperwork and notes from Jen’s doctors proving that there are no preexisting conditions, the Aetna medical directors are now coming up with accusations of “missing mammograms from 2018” which were never performed, just so they don’t have to pay for Jen’s health and her much needed tests.
Aetna’s "suggestions" for the next steps? Their exact words:
“We realise that this decision will be of disappointment to you and apologise that our response could not have been more favourable in this instance.
Many thanks and kind regards.”
Without further testing, it's hard to say what the next steps are, but we are at a loss of words and are at a loss of hope. It's terribly upsetting overall, seeing how Jen is the healthiest person I know and the last person I could imagine with cancer, and not to mention the added stresses of waiting for health insurance to pre-approve these tests that Jen clearly needs and wholeheartedly deserves.
Jen has spoken with HealthCare.gov in hopes of changing health insurance, but unfortunately open enrollment isn’t until many months later, and many months is not something she can wait around for.
That being said, Jen has to take matters into her own hands. That means paying for everything out of pocket. Just to put things in perspective, a breast MRI alone is $2,270. And that’s without medical interpretation. A PET scan is $6,800. And a mastectomy with reconstruction surgery followed by chemo and radiation is $200,000+.
Jen might have to leave the country to afford the health care that Aetna has denied to her. India, Thailand, Mexico, and Israel are in her sights to get her the treatment she desperately needs—at half the cost of US prices. This is her last resort, but it just may be the only option that's left.
Aetna has declined payment for all treatment for Jen’s previous appointments and tests, as well as anything else related to her cancer treatment. The bills will just keep coming in and accruing more debt in a most crucial time that should be solely spent on getting Jen better and cancer-free.
Why did this happen to her? Why is Aetna doing this to her? And, most importantly of all, what can WE do?
Even though I pride myself as a writer, I am at a complete loss for words. I know no other way to help. From the bottom of my heavy heart I ask you to:
Please help a mother by sharing this campaign.
Please help a daughter by praying for our girl.
Please help my best friend by never giving up hope.
Please help Jennifer beat breast cancer by donating to this campaign.
Organizer and beneficiary
Lauren Blanset
Organizer
Miami Beach, FL
Jennifer Vasile
Beneficiary