Maureen's Mission
Bill Thiel is on a mission. My mission is twofold. I want to educate women about the serious and most often times, lethal effects of delayed diagnosis and misdiagnosis of her breast lump. I also want to better the system in order to save women's lives.
Through my own personal experience with my late wife Maureen, I have identified two critical areas where systematic change and increased education are desperately needed:
- A Universal Standard of Care for the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of breast lumps must be established.
- Women must be educated on delayed diagnosis and misdiagnosis of her breast lump. The current problem with the standard of care is that it is anything but standard. The standard varies in all areas and doctors are not even legally required to follow that particular standard. Follow up appointments vary from 1 month, to 2 months, 6 months and as far as 12 months.
Women also must be educated on delayed diagnosis and misdiagnosed of her breast lump, they must be made aware of this national problem when they first have a breast abnormality. A small brochure! Creating awareness will lead to better clinical outcomes, a better patient advocate, and reducing delayed diagnosis and misdiagnosis of a women's breast lump!
My ultimate goal is saving women's lives. Finding the women today that are sitting at home with breast cancer, not even knowing it, they were told not to worry about their breast lump, they try, thousands are on the same path as Maureen.
Establishing a Universal Standard of Care for breast lumps and creating awareness may save hundreds, even thousands of lives each year in the United States. The horrible truth is that, even as you are reading this, somewhere a woman is being sent home with a lump in her breast. She had a negative mammogram, negative ultrasound! She is being told what Bill's wife Maureen was told: "Don't worry. It's not cancer. Come back in a year for your annual mammogram."
Another delay has started, another misdiagnosis, another woman will be diagnosed stage 3, stage 4 when it is too late for some!
