Tina Deal is facing her Goliaths through the generosity of others and her faith

By:  Jackie Hardy, NDG Contributing Writer

The statement that one phone call can change your life certainly rang true for Irving resident, Tina Deal.

It was in 2013, Deal picked up the phone to hear the words–“You have cancer.”  Shortly before learning of her breast cancer diagnosis, Deal also lost her job prompting the onset of life-changing events, which would ultimately turn her life upside down.

Deal went from a life of complete independence and serving  those within the vulnerable communities to now needing some of the very services she once helped to coordinate and/or volunteer her time and energy to.

“I had to accept help from other people.  Well, I wasn’t used to that because I was used to being the one to help,” she states.

With Deal facing unemployment and a major health crisis, she had to quickly figure out what to do as she no longer had healthcare insurance or any stream of income coming in to cover her medical and living expenses.

Deal understood the complexities inherent to breast cancer as she loss both her mother and grandmother to the disease in 1993 and 2000.

“My maternal grandmother had breast cancer and she survived for about 15 years.  She was in remission all that time and then it came back and metastasis.  My Mom had breast cancer as well and she was also around a 15 year survivor,” explains Deal.

According to a 2012 Center for Disease Control report, a little more than 120,000 African American women were diagnosed with breast cancer; and from 2008 to 2012, breast cancer incidence rates increased 0.4 percent per year in African American women based on a report from the American Cancer Society.

According to the American Cancer Society, early detection is critical in the fight against breast cancer and Deal stayed on top of getting her mammograms prior to losing her job.

“I always went every year diligently for my mammograms,” she advises.

Faced with the reality of having breast cancer and no health insurance, Deal went on the Susan G. Komen website and researched to find medical facilities in her area that the non-profit organization, through the partnering with local cancer treatment facilities, provides patients like her financial assistance.

“I found Baylor Irving, now it is called Baylor Scott and White; and they had the funding to do that.  I got the financing from the board {Baylor Irving} and Susan G. Komen.”

The Susan G. Komen foundation covered her medical expenses, but according to Deal they could not continue to provide financial assistance due to lack of funding.

“The funding ran out at Baylor and that was the year Susan G. Komen got hit pretty hard with people not contributing as much as they had at one time, so a lot of programs ran out.  They {programs} were not automatically extended, so I had to find some other way,” claims Deal.

Although she was approved for some financial assistance through the Parkland program, according to Deal the waiting period to see a doctor can be long.

“When I was accepted into their program, it took me seven months to get an appointment to see someone, so with the pains that I have:  severe pain in my back and thighs all the way to my knees {health issues stemming from nerve damage as a result of her diabetes} and the physical therapy I received offered me no relief,”  she exclaims.

To help manage her pain, Deal decided to go back to her former doctor that she saw when she had insurance, but she is unable to receive comprehensive care (i.e. x-rays) because she cannot afford the cost to get necessary testing done to treat and manage her pain.

Deal’s faith is what she says has kept her through all of the difficult financial and medical challenges she has and is currently facing.

“These challenges has taught me to rely on God because there is not a whole lot I can do, but He can do it.  I have learned to stand on God’s word through all of this,” she exclaims.

According to Deal, she endured three surgeries in a total of 21 days to aggressively treat her breast cancer.  She advises the treatments were physically taxing and contributed to other health issues; respectfully her issues with suffering from lymphedema and osteoporosis.

“Ten days I was taken off of the radiation treatment because it was burning me.  When I finished the 45 rounds of radiation I get lymphedema.  Lymphodema is something that occurs when you have had breast cancer.”

Based on the National Lymphedema Network website, secondary lymphedema can occur as a result of damage to the lymphatic system and specific cancer-related surgeries such as breast cancer surgery can put patients at risk with getting this condition along with radiation treatment.

Living with this condition as well as with osteoporosis, has physically limited her and has impacted her overall quality of life.

“I can’t give blood from my right arm, I can’t have my blood pressure checked from that arm and I can’t carry more than 10 pounds and I am a right-handed person, so that means my left side has to do most of the work.”

Deal is hoping to get disability assistance and a hearing has been set for the first of February to determine if she will be approved.

In the meantime, there has been a gofundme page set up for her where people can donate to assist her with her medical and living expenses.  Her hope is to raise $25,000, as she currently has raised at little over $5,000.

According to Deal, she owes a balance of $15,000 for her rent and she is grateful that the landlord is allowing her to stay as long as she pays the monthly rent.

The two greatest needs for her is to find affordable housing and get the necessary medical testing she needs to treat her osteoporosis as well as funds to have a colonoscopy as colon cancer runs in her family too.

Deal shared how grateful she has been for the generosity shown by people and when asked what these challenging times have taught her as it relates to people; Deal’s response was direct.

“I have learned friends come into your life for a season, for a reason, or for a lifetime and through this experience I have learned those friends who are genuine and who are my real friends.”

Deal wants to continue to serve and be a blessing to others and even feels what she is going through will do just that–bless others.

“Things happen in life and if you find yourself in a catastrophic situation, you got to get on your knees and he {God} will get you through it.  God will use your situation to help others and I am being used to be a blessing to someone else, ” she concludes.

To donate to Deal’s gofundme page, please visit:  https://www.gofundme.com/qx49p9j8.