An Oklahoma mother who was originally denied treatment for her cancer by her health insurance has beaten the cancer.
Hauli Gray and her family celebrated over the weekend, ringing the bell at ProCure Proton Therapy Center on Saturday as a way of signifying that she defeated cancer, reported KFOR.
Gray said that her treatment included a number of surgeries and methods and included losing a breast.
“I just finished my last treatment, I had a total of 34 radiation treatments. It’s been hard. I feel overwhelming, I feel joy right now, I’m so excited,” Gray said. “I know it’s not completely over, but I just feel like I’ve finished the hard part. This is the happiest I’ve been in a long time.”
Her two children and husband celebrated with her.
Gray was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2017, according to a family friend.
Doctors ultimately decided that Gray needed proton radiation treatment, because her cancer was so close to her heart that they feared the danger traditional radiation would cause.
“It reduces her chances of living that long life that we’re all hoping that she’s going to have,” Cecil Gray, Hauli’s husband, told KFOR.
The treatment was denied by Blue Cross Blue Shield Oklahoma, which said in a statement that an independent radiation oncologist disagreed that Gray couldn’t undergo traditional radiation.
The friend said one of the problems is that proton therapy is still new and thus very expensive.
“Regular radiation therapy can have potentially long-term side effects such as other cancers and heart problems. Because of how young she is they don’t want her to have problems 10 or 20 years down the line. Proton therapy radiation is not as invasive and spares her of many of the potential long-term side effects,” the friend said.
Doctors continued with the treatment and all costs were eventually covered by the center.
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