Arielle to travel to US for assessment

IN the coming days, cancer patient Arielle Fahey-Cadiz will travel to Miami for an assessment by doctors before she is scheduled for life-saving surgery.

Fahey-Cadiz, 28 suffers from a rare form of bone cancer called osteosarcoma. The Mayo Clinic website says “Though rare, osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer, which begins in cells that form bones. In very rare instances, it occurs in soft tissue outside the bone. Osteosarcoma is most often found in the long bones — more often the legs, but sometimes the arms — but it can start in any bone.”

Fahey-Cadiz was first diagnosed in late April and has since been trying to raise funds for surgery abroad. In her first interview with Newsday she said although doctors at the San Fernando General Hospital said they could do her surgery she had no faith in them as they had misdiagnosed her condition for over a year.

In a statement in Parliament, Health Minister Terrrence Deyalsingh told citizens they did not have to donate to Fahey-Cadiz, saying the surgery could be done locally. She responded that she would pray for him to get some compassion and said she would work towards raising the money for surgery abroad. Since then, she has managed to raise $60,000TT.

In an interview this morning, she said she is awaiting the final approval for her travel documents.

“The doctors have told me that I need to come for an assessment before they can plan out the surgery because the tumour is growing very rapidly,” she said.

She said the rapid growth causes her more pain and she often has very bad days. With the support of her friends and relatives, Fahey-Cadiz said she is not slowing in her fund-raising efforts.

“But by the grace of God, I will do what I have to do to get my surgery.”

On July 29, the group will host a fund-raising boat cruise on the Embassy with boarding from King’s Wharf, San Fernando.

If you would like to assist Fahey-Cadiz, she can be contacted at 293-8870 or via her Facebook page Fit to Fight Cancer.