I wrote a very strong letter to the Premier requesting a personal response. Guess what? I received an automated response. Let's not give up. Let Danny know that cancer survivors are not quitters.!

i watch my sister suffer through the wrong doing of eastern health long enought .i thank its time danny that you step up to the plate. and do whats right,. not years down the road but like yesterday.

Tired:

Keep emailing - don't give up!

Same response from the premiers office for me too. We are being ignored.

Daphne:

That's the same message I received but I wrote back and said I expected something more than an automated response - I didn't hear back from that one though. Write her back - don't give up.

This is the response I got from the premiers office!!!!!

Thank you for your correspondence to Premier Williams. Please note that your comments will be given due consideration.

Sincerely,

-------- -------

Office of the Premier

I too was very sorry to hear about Donna Howell - my condolences to her family.
It was just yesterday I heard Mr. Crosbie say the families of deceased victims can't be compensated because of Newfoundland Law - how sad that is.
Ladies, keep up the fight - keep this in the news, write Danny Williams, don't let this be pushed under the rug. The only way we're going to win this is to keep public support behind us and put pressure on the government. There are over 200 on this email list - start writing letters, get your friends and family to write letters. Don't let this be all for nothing - you're worth more than that!

My faxed memo to Premier Danny Williams
September 28, 2009.


As a breast cancer survivor and a member of of the Class Action group, I speak for myself and other members involved in this Class Action. We are very angry, saddened, disappointed and fail to understand Governments decision not to attend an invitation to observe important mediation talks scheduled for October 28, 29, 30.

Due to the date change for mediation talks set up from July to October gave Government ample time to organize to observe these important mediation talks. It seems that Government is trying to distance itself from this important issue.

We as a Class Action group feel as if we have been disrespected and forgotten by Governments support to help get this Class Action settled in a timely and proper manner. We are very worried that without support from Government for expenditure necessary to settle the claims it could be forced to trial. If this happens it could go on for months or worse years.

We have suffered and waited long enough at the hands of Eastern Health. Our lives have been changed forever by this terrible tragedy caused by an organization proven over and over by the Cameron Inquiry to be flawed to the fullest and that has failed us greatly.

We need this settled so we can move on with the rest of our lives. PLEASE! Premier Williams do the right and decent thing, stand by and support us as was promised earlier in the media.

Respectfully Yours

I was very sad to hear of the passing of Donna. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family. May God Bless you all in this very sad time.
Elizabeth Finlayson
Jane Hopkins

My sincere condolences to the Howell family. RIP brave lady.

Just an additional note to the e-mail I sent on Sept 25-I only received written confirmation of my retesting after calling and ASKING for it,there was no offer made from Eastern Health to send it out to me.
It is with great sorrow to learn that Donna Howell has died-she fought a long and courageous battle and now she is at peace and pain free-Sleep well Donna

I was disgusted by Eastern Health's four page spread in the Telegram last week, especially its "Accomplishments" section.

The year they are boasting about is the financial year April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009, the year of the Cameron Inquiry hearings.

Also, despite the large section on "Accomplishments" on pages 1 and 2, nothing in there is a concrete action, just planning and talk, other than a few x-ray machines.

Eastern Health has accomplished squat! People are still lining the halls in emergency, having heart and other surgeries cancelled and waiting hours for everything.

Patient care is what matters. The attitude to the Breast Cancer claimants is just one more instance of putting the patient last.

I have a sister that's a member of The Breast Cancer Scandal, i still think about her and what she went threw. Mr Williams it's not right what happened to these women, it's hard enough having to be told that you have Cancer, not to mention what they are going threw now. Maybe your wife would be the better one here to speed things up for these women, being a woman herself i mean. I remember hearing my late mother talk about you Danny Williams, and it was oh so good, what a good man he is, Danny is the one for the job. Well Danny PLEASE don't let those families down, do what people expect you to do, and pay the compensation that these women deserve ASAP, SO THEY CAN AT LEAST ENJOY THEIR LAST DAYS WITH THEIR FAMILIES, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE DYING HERE, AND THE PEOPLE THAT HAD ALREADY PASSED ON, YOU HAVE TO LOOK AFTER THESE PEOPLE AND THEIR FAMILIES MR WILLIAMS.

Mr Williams, i always wondered if this would be happening to the Breast Cancer Menbers if it included a close family member of yours, I THINK NOT. Please just think, if it was someone close to you, you would feel just like all the rest of us Newfoundlanders are feeling. PLEASE PLEASE DO THE HUMANE THING HERE, for your people.

It is all right for Ms.Kaminsky to say put it all behind her.I dont know if i can.I had breast cancer in the year 2000.I had a stroke 13 months ago.I have to get surgery now.I have a block Artery in my neck.The stress that i have it is good for me.It is time to settle this. i will never forget what they did to me.They have to paid for the errors.Please Mr.williams be the man and do whats right and settle this.

I don't think that is easy for any one of us to just put this scandle behind us. My self and many other members have experienced lots of suffer and pain due to this mistake. This made me asking many questions about the system and treatments that I got. I'm asking for my original samples and reports to be sent to a third and fourth parties just to make sure that I got the right diagnoses not ony the treatments. The stress and pain that I'm experiencing will not let me forget this. Justice has to be done and the composition is the least thing that they should do to correct such mistakes. It is not about the money, it is about ignoring our feelings when they hided the thruth from us and left us blind. This is not an easy task for any of the class members.

I too wrote an email to Danny Williams - all I got was an automated reply from his assistant. I wrote him back telling him I expected more than an automated reply but haven't heard anything since.
I hope this silence is not a sign....

It is very easy for Vickie Kaminski to waltz in and suggest that we put the breast cancer scandal behind us. She has not experienced the suffering that those of us involved in this debacle have been through. We will never be able to trust the system again, nor
the results of testing which we receive.

As I have stated previously, the fallout from the mistakes that have been made can only be compared to the fallout from an atomic bomb explosion. While those in the direct line of fire from an atomic explosion get hit and will likely not make it, those on the periphery are affected by the fallout for years to come, with no recourse for the problems which the fallout has created. So too with the breast cancer errors. And to compound our problems, all we have to support our hopes for compensation is the evidence in our medical files. I have requested and seen my file, and it would be putting it politely to say that it is less than accurate. For example, I requested hormone testing in 2004 after my masectomy(completely unaware of the mistakes and confusion being uncovered in the labs), and I was refused this testing. Then I was asked by the oncologist if wanted tamoxifen. When I questioned its usefulness if they did not know if I was estrogen positive, it was recorded on my file that I refused the tamoxifen, and that I was a difficult patient. One was labelled "difficult" if one questioned the course of treatment. Yet having read all that I could on my specific diagnosis, and having requested and received the latest research out of the U.S., Britain and Australia from the Canadian Cancer Society on the most effectine treatment for this diagnosis, I knew that things were not coming down as they should. But I was difficult if I asked questions. The whole scenario created considerable stress and mistrust as mistakes were made along the way. There is even one apology in my file to my family doctor from the radiologist who recorded the incorrect
side of my body as the location for the cancer, which I incidentally discovered because I asked for hard copies of all my reports. One of my more recent tests had to be sent to the U.S. for results, because all the results received locally were "inconclusive". How do I now trust this system? My husband suddenly and unexpectedly died 4 months ago from a massive coronary. The stress over the past 5 years of mistakes and the long waits for test results took its toll on both of us. I hope that I have survived the cancer, but one can never be sure. One can never trust the system again.

Just in case I would not survive my cancer ordeal, we took our son and daughter and their families (our grandchildren) on a month-long memorable holiday to Florida in April. Three weeks after our return, I experinced severe pain in my chest and shoulder in the area where the cancer had been. Naturally we were nervous wondering if the cancer had returned, and afraid to trust any test results. I had been up for 3 nights with the discomfort, and on the morning after the 3rd night, I found my husband dead on the floor. This is an example of the "fallout" experinced by those of us who were victims of the breast cancer debacle created by Eastern Health, even if we did not receive hormone testing. Who can dare tell me that I do not deserve to be compensated? Danny Williams is a very fair man, and I feel certain that if he were made aware of many of the facts that he would speed up the mediation process and bring it to fruition before more of us die. We have waited long enough! Step up to the plate Danny!

I too fall into the group of ladies of the Cammeron inquiry but for the grace of God I was one of the lucky ones who had the right testing done and the right treatment given.However that is not to say that I didn't worry and second guess the diagnosis-I was never notified by Eastern Health and only was told that everything was ok AFTER I went looking to them for reasurrance.This was given to me on the phone and again I only got written confirmation that it was correct. It is time that Eastern Health stepped up to the plate and do the right thing-It is too late for some Ladies but there may be time for some that are left-settle with these Ladies so they can get on with the rest of their lives and then Eastern Health can indeed put this in the past and hopefully learn from this so it WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN-it has cost us too many lives and cost too many people too much pain

We as Newfoundlanders have to stop being so passive and speak out about what's wrong, and this situation that the Breast Cancer Members are facing now with the Government is most definatly wrong, we have to get ALL of the public's support, just imagine what can be accomplished if the public started to make alot of noise. Please Mr Williams be the man that people often say you are, The Best Man For The Job, don't let your people down, because we are your people, the people of Newfoundland And Labrador, and i am a member of the Breast Cancer Class Action, i HOPE that you do the right thing for your people.

THIS IS A COPY OF THE LETTER I SENT TO PREMIER WILLIAMS

Premier Danny Williams
Gov.Newfoundland and Labrador


I am a breast cancer patient. I have lived with my illness since 2005. Through it all - the diagnosis, the surgery, the chemotherapy and its side-effects, the anxiety-ridden follow up tests, the worry and sleepless nights thinking how the cancer was affecting my family, especially my children - I have tried to remain upbeat and positive.

When I was notified that there was to be a class action lawsuit against Eastern Health over faulty tests, and that I was a part of the group which would be compensated, I was hopeful. While compensation would not take away my cancer or my continuing problems and anxieties, it would go a long way to getting closure and easing some of the stresses that I have gone through that are still ungoing.

I urge you, the government of Newfoundland and Labrador, to attend the mediation meeting scheduled for October 28, 29, and 30 in St.John's to observe these important tasks. Doing so would be the humane thing to do, so that all the class members could regain some sense of a normal life, and most impotantly for me, peace of mind.



Daphne Walsh

WOW,Vicki wants to put this behind her well emagine how the Breast cancer patients feel. My mother Elizabeth Finlayson wants to put this behind her a lot more.Settle this and let her enjoy her family in peace for the time she has left. In my eyes Eastern Health will always be defined by the breast cancer scandel.wake up Danny and make it happen before they are all gone.
Tanya Finlayson(Wabush)

Hello,



My name is Tony Byrne and I am sending this message for my beloved wife, Cathy, who passed away almost 5 years ago. Cathy was a beautiful person, and a great mother who suffered with dignity and struggled to live for her two children who at the time were seven months old and 4 years old. It has been a very difficult five years.



Compensation will never take away the pain, sorry and grief that my children and I have endured since her passing, They have to grow up without their mother and I have to live without the mother of my children.



Government should compensate the families who have been affected by this tragedy. Please show your human side.



Thank you.



Tony Byrne


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Danny DO Right !!!!!

Mom has passed now since june,cancer got her again.
Danny please let other woman have a little peace of mind.
MOM use to say Danny's a good man he won't let me down , now she'll never know.

I read Ms. Kaminsky's story in the Telegram as well. I've no doubt Eastern Health would like to put this behind them and not be defined by it - so would we! She also stated they "will be rolling out to the public a work plan to tackle the list of recommendations from a public inquiry into the testing errors" - let's hope erros of this magnitude never happen again.

Surely Eastern Health realizes that if they refuse to settle and drag us to court, their public image will be damaged more than by the actual Cameron Inquiry itself. I'm sure the public is behind us. We need to keep the pressure on with our comments and letters - don't let this go on past the mediation date.