Raising Hopes and Money : Parents Struggle to Pay for Cancer Treatment After Insurer Balks

Five-year-old Holly Keuthan suffers from Ewing’s sarcoma, a cancer that has weakened the once bouncy kindergartner and put her at fate’s door.

Holly’s chances of survival are 20% with regular chemotherapy, her doctor says. But the chances could be higher if Holly receives a bone marrow transplant that would allow higher dosages of chemotherapy.

Although the new treatment could triple her odds against the disease, the Keuthans’ insurance company, Aetna Life Insurance, has steadfastly refused to pay for the transplant, saying the treatment is experimental and not covered by the family’s health plan. Now the Keuthans are trying to raise money themselves so that Holly can get the transplant.

“I’m desperate,” Karen Keuthan said. “I’m willing to have car washes, sell my home, be broke forever just so that Holly can be well again.’

The Keuthans are appealing to Aetna to reconsider their daughter’s case. Although it won’t pay for the new treatment, it will pay Holly’s current medical bill, which so far has come to more than $100,000, the family said.

In the meantime, Holly continues regular treatments of chemotherapy to keep the cancer from spreading.

“We don’t know where to go from here,” said Jan Keuthan, Holly’s father. “It’s like one big nightmare and we keep falling into this hole. I can’t understand why they won’t pay for something that can save my daughter’s life, even if they consider it experimental.”

The Dana Point couple say they don’t have the $350,000 for the bone marrow transplant operation. It is more than seven times what Jan Keuthan makes a year as a communication sales manager at Raycom Systems, a communications company, where his salary depends on sales commissions.

“Insurance companies should be encouraging any treatment that gives the best opportunity of being cured,” Cairo said. “This young child is faced with the likelihood of dying from cancer. We hope to give her the most modern form of treatment that could possibly cure her.”

Holly was first diagnosed with cancer in January, after she couldn’t get over what appeared to be an ongoing infection in her upper right leg.

“I kept hoping it was benign, but the news never got better,” Karen Keuthan said. “Sometimes, it seems worse than when we first found out.”

The Keuthans try not to talk about survival odds or mention death near their daughter. They do not want her to be scared.

“All Holly knows right now is that her body is full of bad and good cells fighting it out,” Karen Keuthan said. “She doesn’t know about survival.”

Already, the 5-year-old is suffering the effects of chemotherapy. Her hair has fallen out. She has sores in her mouth so she can barely talk. And she is often weak from fatigue. But still she can smile and play with her dolls and crayon set.

“I know she misses things so much,” her mother said. “She wants to go to school. She wants to get on the school bus. She wants to jump rope and tap dance. She wants everything a kid wants.”

Cairo said that Holly is responding well to chemotherapy and is “an excellent candidate” for the new transplant treatment.

“Anybody who has had the opportunity to see how precious this child’s life is would do anything possible to help her,” Cairo said. “I see what this child and her family have gone through. She’s already touched a lot of people’s hearts here including mine. Now all she needs is to get well.”

Contributions to the Keuthans can be made to: Trust Fund for Holly, Union Bank, 31971 Camino Capistrano, P.O. Box 637, San Juan Capistrano 92675.