Cancer patients, survivors struggle with healthcare amid COVID-19

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- For some cancer patients, COVID-19 means delays in care. One woman from Colorado Springs says she worries her quality of life is beginning to diminish due to the pandemic.

Amy Fink, 22, was diagnosed with Stage 4 B, unfavorable, Hodgkin's Lymphoma in September of 2015.

"I've been kind of dealing with that for the last five years and I had a stem cell transplant and I had a bone marrow transplant just two Decembers ago," she said.

Since then, she's undergone several more procedures to extend her chances of survival and is now in remission.

"I had to get an abdominal surgery about two weeks ago which was not completely necessary, but it was necessary for my quality of life," she said.

But because of COVID-19, some of her appointments have been pushed back.

"The one that's getting pushed back a lot is my hip surgery. It have to have several joints and bones replaced from my cancer treatment and I can't get that," she said.

Paying for them has become increasingly difficult for her family too, as they stay home to protect her from the virus.

"They've been having to put their lives on hold because they can't bring back that stuff to me at all," Fink said.

They've spent thousands of dollars in out of pocket costs for prescriptions and travel not covered by Medicaid. She worries the virus could bring cuts to those programs, affecting her health and access to treatment.

"I'm just worried that this is going to be my life for a really hard time and I'm also of course scared for my life and for my friends' lives who don't have a good immune system," she said.