Pandemic Deepens Cancer's Stress And Tough Choices
For many cancer patients, daily life can feel full of risky choices involving work, family, friends and money. Nearly every option pits the risks of catching the coronavirus against other downsides.
Alexea Gaffney battles health issues every day on multiple fronts. As an infectious disease doctor in Stony Brook, N.Y., she treats patients who have COVID-19. And two years ago, at age 37, she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.
As a result, the physician and single mom, who is also home-schooling her 8-year-old daughter these days, is still under medical treatment for the cancer. And that makes her more vulnerable to the virus.
Gaffney says navigating life from minute to minute feels like a minefield of risks — ones she mitigates with face masks, protective gowns and lots of hand-washing.
"It doesn't stop me from getting nervous every single day: 'Is this the day
