New Naples non-profit offers free treatment consulting: ‘Cancer isn’t cheap’

People seeking cancer therapy are given a plan for how their treatment will look. They can accept this strategy from their doctors or seek a second opinion.

Naples Cancer Advisors attempts to provide an alternate judgment, if necessary, for free.

Alicia Laplant says the non-profit, which is new to Southwest Florida, has saved her life during her breast cancer struggle, according to a recent article by Dominga Murray of FOX4.

“I did four rounds of a very serious chemotherapy called the red devil, the top strongest chemo in the nation,” she stated.

She says she discovered camaraderie and a second family at NCA after having a double mastectomy.

“Last year, I discovered a lump in one of my breasts and went to get it checked out a bit later. It was a huge tumor, and I discovered it had spread to my lymph nodes,” she explained.

Bone marrow injections and 12 rounds of chemotherapy were insufficient to kill her malignancy. Her treatment approach required collaboration among multiple doctors.

“Everyone has a unique formula [treatment plan]. “I had 30 radiations after that,” Laplant explained.

Not every plan works, and the treatments might be extremely expensive. Getting a second opinion can potentially cost you hundreds of dollars. However, not in this instance. Mohammad Jahanzeb, a medical oncologist, is among the non-profit’s five practitioners. He claims that NCA provides these consultancy services for free.

“I saw a patient who didn’t want to lose her hair with chemotherapy, and I was able to tell her that there is an equally effective alternative drug [in her case] that does not cause hair loss. That meant a lot to her and was so simple for me to advise. That’s only a small example,” he remarked.

Lana Uhrig, the executive director, says what they give can be the difference between a patient undergoing multiple unpleasant treatments at once, pacing themselves, or adopting a different strategy. However, Naples Cancer Advisors do not alter a patient’s initial doctors plan. Rather, it is a collaboration. Their work begins after the HIPAA release forms are signed.

“Everything that we do is free of charge and I know sometimes people have a hard time believing that, but there’s no hidden agendas and we do it all just because we’re a philanthropic organization and it’s all altruistic,” Uhrig told the crowd.

“It feels like they care and it really does feel like family,” Laplant told me.

This article originally appeared on FOX4.