Working after a Cancer Diagnosis

[Guest guest]

[it's a good thing that employers are flexible, but the

worker/patient also has to balance his/her prognosis with the

importance of spending time with family.]

More Stay on the Job While They Fight Cancer

December 13, 2005

(USA TODAY) -- At first, Todd s assumed the dull pain in his

left forearm came from too much basketball. So he could hardly

believe it when doctors told him he had osteosarcoma, a type of bone

cancer, and would need surgery and chemotherapy.

But s, an account manager at Karwoski & Courage Public

Relations in Minneapolis, wasn't going to let treatment interfere

with work. He had a permanent catheter inserted into his chest in

order to take chemotherapy. s came to the office every day with

his chemotherapy bag slung over his shoulder. Then he would set the

bag up at his desk. He worked with it beside him, listening to the

soft zoom of the pump as it delivered chemicals through tubes under

his shirt.

Cancer is no longer the death sentence it used to be, and longer

survival rates and better ways to manage the side effects of

treatment mean more people like s are staying in the workforce

during treatment. That's creating challenges for employers.

" I needed something to keep me busy. I felt better when I was up and

moving, and my co-workers are also my friends, " says s, 28, who

is now continuing treatment for the cancer that has recently spread

to his lungs. " Work has said to take whatever time I need. They care

about me as a person. "

About 40% of the more than 1 million Americans diagnosed with some

form of cancer each year are working-age adults, and nearly 10

million people in the USA are cancer survivors. High-profile

Americans with cancer are continuing to work. Before his death this

year, Supreme Court Chief Justice Rehnquist underwent

treatment for thyroid cancer and returned to the bench. Sen.

Kerry, D-Mass., had surgery for prostate cancer in 2003 and continued

his campaign for the presidency. FBI Director Mueller also had

prostate cancer surgery.

The federal government is also focusing attention on the issue. The

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) this year issued a

publication explaining how and when federal anti-discrimination law

protects employees with cancer. It was developed because of

continuing discrimination and misconception about the work abilities

of employees with the disease.

" We were frustrated, " says Joyce -, a senior attorney at

the EEOC. " We wanted employers to look at this more as a chronic

health issue. People are working more with cancer than they were 10

or 20 years ago. These are the hidden disabilities employers will

have to deal with as employees get older. "

Employers will also grapple with how to accommodate employees with

cancer as baby boomers continue to work rather than retiring. If

cancer rates follow current patterns, the number of people diagnosed

with cancer will double from 1.3 million in 2000 to 2.6 million in

2050, according to a report by the National Cancer Institute and

other health organizations.

That means there will be more people like Arnold Gold. At 87 he is

battling liver cancer, and every three weeks he drives 20 minutes to

his hospital for chemotherapy. But Gold, who is semiretired,

continues to work as an independent contractor in the kitchen cabinet

business, going out to measure kitchens and price and design

installations.

The side effects from his chemotherapy, such as fatigue and tingling

and numbness in his fingers, at times can be bothersome when he's

working. He says he's been upfront with clients about the diagnosis.

" I know some people don't talk about it, but I don't have fear. I

tell them I have cancer in the liver, " says Gold, of Pikesville,

Md. " It doesn't affect my business. "

Challenges at work

But lawyers and legal experts such as - say cancer can

also have a negative impact on employment: Job hunters with cancer

may wonder when, or whether, they should tell prospective employers.

People who run their own businesses often can't stop working because

then they couldn't afford health insurance. And employees may see

promotion opportunities vanish because employers view them as unable

to do more work.

Micle, 55, is president of his own firm, Industrial

Illustrators, in Irwin, Pa., a graphics and desktop publishing

business. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2002 after he started

coughing up blood. But he had to keep working, downing codeine to try

to stop coughing before meeting with customers.

" I got sicker and sicker, and I'm trying to run a business, " says

Micle, who feels better today under a new treatment. He gets

chemotherapy in Tulsa every month at Cancer Treatment Centers of

America, but he is able to keep working by setting up a laptop, a

printer and a stapler in his room.

" I've got lung cancer, " he says, " but I've got a business to run. "

Since fiscal year 1992, the federal government's EEOC has received

more than 5,000 complaints from employees who believe they've been

discriminated against because of cancer. In July 2005, the agency

settled a lawsuit for $100,000 with Kindred Pharmacy Services in New

Berlin, Wis. The EEOC says a manager was fired after trying to return

to work following medical leave for cancer surgery and radiation.

The company said in a statement that the pharmacy is committed to

equal opportunity principles and prohibits unlawful discrimination.

They also said they reached the agreement because it was in the best

interests of the parties.

" People with cancer may still be seen as having a death sentence.

They don't get promoted because (employers) are afraid they won't be

there. There's terrible anxiety about how others will react, " says

, executive director of the National Association of

Social Workers in Washington.

says one woman with breast cancer returned from medical leave

to discover co-workers had cannibalized her desk, taking her supplies

and claiming her space.

But co-workers can be a vital source of support. Beverly Hill, 49, a

labor-and-delivery nurse at Boca Raton Community Hospital in Boca

Raton, Fla., was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003 and underwent

surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. She continued to work full time

and tried to keep her diagnosis quiet, but word got out.

One day, a nurse called her into a room. There, she discovered a

beautiful quilt spread over the bed. As a surprise, her co-workers

had each taken a square of fabric, decorated it in her honor, and

sewn them all together.

" I was so pleased and thrilled, " says Hill, of Deerfield Beach,

Fla. " I kept it hanging in my room. It was such a message of hope, "

she says, adding that she couldn't have made it through work without

the help of her co-workers.

In May 2005, Hill began having dizzy spells and discovered she had a

brain tumor. After surgery and radiation, she returned to work,

starting back unsteadily at first with a walker, then with a cane.

The experience, she says, has shown her that her co-workers are

family. She says it's also changed her own perspective on her job.

" I feel like I'm a lot more empathetic with my patients, " she says.

Accommodating patients

Many companies make accommodations for employees who have cancer.

If disability insurance is provided, employees can generally take

time off with full or partial pay. For example, under a short-term

disability program, employees may get 60% of their regular pay for 13

to 26 weeks.

Employees can take time off for medical treatments under the Family

and Medical Leave Act: The federal law provides for up to 12 weeks of

unpaid time off in a year, and that time can be taken in short

increments.

" Employees watch how companies handle it, because they know it can

happen to them, " says Carolyn Messner, director of education and

training with CancerCare, a non-profit support organization in New

York. " It sends a message. "

Employers also are adopting more prevention and disease-management

programs to combat cancer, and they're providing employee assistance

or mental-health services that can assist employees who have a cancer

diagnosis.

At HomeBanc there are formal benefits, such as health insurance, to

help employees with cancer. There is also informal assistance. About

60% of the staff of 1,300 are loan officers who work on commission.

If they find themselves unable to work, co-workers have taken over

closing the loans or added some of their own loans to their ailing

colleague's pipeline to ensure their colleague gets the same level of

pay. Flexible hours let employees leave as needed for treatments. And

the company has contracted through Corporate Chaplains of America for

chaplains.

There is also an associate emergency fund, supported by voluntary

payroll deductions, that has gone to employees with cancer.

" We want you to get better. Your job is going to be here, and we're

going to work through this with you, " says Dwight " Ike " Reighard,

chief people officer at HomeBanc. " This could happen to any one of

us. "

Other companies have continued to support their workers' careers,

even in the face of cancer. When Bill Seman, 63, was diagnosed with

non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, he initially thought about retiring and had a

retirement plan drawn up that he kept in his desk. Instead, he

underwent chemotherapy and radiation and continued working; during

the process, he was promoted to plant manager.

" Coming to work, you feel like you still count for something. The

group here, they didn't treat me any differently, " Seman says. " Xerox

as a company didn't treat me any differently. "

Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.