Editor:

Thank you so much for your article about Bev Mac-Gregor. It is time Canadians opened their eyes about our health care system and look at the flaws, at all levels of government.

I too have breast cancer, over a year now and most services have a 'Catch-22' attached to them. I am also in a wheelchair due to MS.

There are volunteers who will drive women to their appointments but they do not take anyone in a wheelchair. I have spent over $3,000 in taxis and I live close to Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto where I had my mastectomy.

What Bev and so many women like her need now is time to come to terms with their cancer with no added stress. If Bev has started chemotherapy all she will want to do is go home to familiar surroundings and rest in her own bed.

She has paid her taxes and she deserves to concentrate on healing instead of thinking about money. It just breaks my heart to see how much some women suffer, physically and emotionally.

I was told that one only needs to move if they want to go into palliative care. I have made all the arrangements to die at home, thanks to a wonderful, very thorough and compassionate family doctor. She has helped me more than anyone and I am so grateful to have her as an advocate.

Since I was allergic to all treatments I do not know how much time I have but I try to live one day at a time and I see my glass half full, not half empty. I have no help in grocery shopping, cleaning, doing laundry or preparing meals.

Thankfully, I have my beloved daughter who lives close by and helps me with-everything but she works full time and it is very hard on her emotionally. I have applied to every organization in the book and I am constantly told something different. Bev deserves help in her home as well. No one understands what it is like to have cancer and to have to fight for every morsel of help, which rarely arrives.

I find the Canadian Cancer Association useless and have put in my living will that I do not want donations to go there. I urge all cancer patients to make a living will. It is hard times all around for Canadians. Our health care system is failing miserably and we have to pull together to make improvements.

I have come to terms with my own death, but people like Bev will hopefully beat the odds, as long as she lives at home, stress free.

Thank you again for your article, a very sad situation that is just wrong.

Perhaps you could start a dialogue between patients and the government that does not seem to care about individuals like Bev.

Ruby Wilde Toronto