Doctors told Laura Bray that she was “lucky” because her 9-year-old daughter’s leukemia was curable.
Abby had a 90% chance of beating the blood cancer if she followed a three-year treatment. There was just one problem.
Doctors told Bray the key drug that kicked off Abby’s chemotherapy in 2018 was hard to find. She had to figure out a way to tell her daughter.
“I had no answers for her when she asked me if she was going to die if she didn’t have her medicine,” said Bray, 47, of Tampa, Florida. “All I could say is that, ‘We’re going to try to find it. Sometimes, extraordinary things happen when you try.’”
The family eventually found that medication. Later, two others Abby needed were hard to find. The Brays, like thousands of families across the country, got a firsthand education in the widespread shortage of children’s cancer drugs.
Experts say this backlog for an array of pediatric cancer drugs has existed for decades. Advocacy groups have tried to get manufacturers, wholesalers and hospitals on the same page and create a reliable supply chain.
Source: This 9-year-old’s cancer was treatable. But the drugs were hard to find.