Hi, my name is Rosemary Capuder. It’s that time of the year again …. October, Breast Cancer Awareness month. Normally, I hand out pink bracelets or hold a fundraiser for breast cancer research in memory of my Mom but unfortunately, this year I need your help.

The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is I thank God for another day. You see, I never take it for granted because I am a 5-time cancer survivor. I had melanoma at age 21 where I lost a large part of my ankle, uterine cancer at 37, and breast cancer at age 45 with a reoccurrence 19 years later at age 64. I also had a basal cell carcinoma in 2017 and finally last winter, I had two additional breast surgeries that revealed precancerous tissue.

I have always prided myself in working hard for the things that both my son and I needed. And work hard I did. Most of you know that I worked many years for Norman Bard, the leading appellate attorney in the State of New York. He was Of Counsel to Kramer, Dillof, Livingston & Moore, the firm that won the largest plaintiff’s verdicts. I ended my legal career working for Gabriele & Marano, a defense firm that represented physicians and their insurance companies. My legal career involved long hours and a lot of stress.

However, bad health took me out of the work force almost ten years ago when a knee replacement was done incorrectly. My lack of mobility was the final straw.

The past year has been particularly difficult for me. I have a $15,000 dental bill because after taking chemo drugs like tamoxifen and arimidex for years, it caused irreversible damage to my teeth. Additionally, on December 1st, I went for my routine series of yearly tests at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital which included a mammogram and ultrasound. However, it was anything but routine. It was followed by multiple mammograms, another ultrasound, and two stereotactic biopsies (the worst) before not one, but two surgeries were scheduled. It was a LONG winter and long recovery. I am now back under care at Memorial Sloan Kettering for an “undiagnosed” condition that involved three more mammograms, another ultrasound, an aspiration and a regular biopsy. Yes, of course, I have health insurance. However, for someone as high risk as myself, it is very expensive. I pay about $600.00 a month for my insurance. That’s more than 1/3 of my monthly social security check so that doesn’t leave much for anything else.

Also kindly bear in mind that insurance only pays a portion of my health costs. Therefore, when you are talking about sophisticated 3-D mammograms and you need three of them, that extra uncovered cost adds up to quite a bit.

Finally, as I said earlier I have always prided myself on taking care of myself and not being a burden to anyone. I was raised humbly but with a lot of love and certainly not with a silver spoon in my mouth. So it is now that I’m asking for your help in allowing me to catch up on some of my outstanding bills. Your help will be greatly appreciated.