In June 2024, Idenna R. found a mass in her breast and asked doctors to look at it. After a biopsy, she was told that she had Metaplastic Carcinoma, which is “a very rare and very aggressive cancer,” she said.
Her life changed after that. “Everything was different. Everything looks different, sounds different, feels different because you’re in survival mode. Every minute counts, everything counts, every decision you make, the West Valley woman told 12News.
Even after she removed the tumor, her oncologist at Honor Health advised her to start chemotherapy.
“The only medical treatment for this cancer is chemotherapy,” Idenna said. “At this time, I trusted a lot because they have expertise that I don’t have. I started Chemotherapy in August and pursued a second opinion because I wanted to know more about it because it was so rare. The second opinion came back and said this is not what this is.”
The second and third opinions by Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center discovered that the initial diagnosis was wrong. They told her that her tumor was benign and not cancer, and she didn’t need chemotherapy. Idenna stopped all treatment after this information.
“And I was left in a room to pick up the pieces,” she said. “I felt very conflicted. It’s still taking me time to process.”
“Whether it’s one time or had it been the scheduled 16 infusions that I was supposed to have between August and January it was one time too many,” she said of the chemotherapy that she had already begun. “Having your hair fall out is different, having your nails hurt and skin hurt is different, having nausea and headaches it’s all different.”
And then she has had to find a way to pay all the bills. “I’m still responsible for all the bills,” she said. “I had to pay to walk into the doctor’s office for the doctor to tell me the decision is different, your treatment is different.”
12News reported that Idenna disputed the thousands of dollars she currently owes on services that were not even needed but was told she still needed to pay.
“And I was told ‘we did our research, the team did what they were supposed to do in terms of the care with the diagnosis you were given, and the management team decided you still have to pay the bills’,” she said.
Idenna stressed that she has been through a lot for five months now but won’t stop fighting for what she believes is right.
