PUBLICITY HELPED COUPLE FIGHT CANCER, INSURANCE COMPANY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 9, 1992                   TAG: 9202090181
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
PUBLICITY HELPED COUPLE FIGHT CANCER, INSURANCE COMPANY
The story of Lorraine Smusz is one people remember - perhaps because they can imagine the same nightmare happening to them.
It began more than a year ago, with a letter from her insurance company, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia. Stated simply, it read: Lorraine was being denied coverage of a controversial medical treatment that her doctors said would be her only hope in beating a life-threatening breast cancer.
Blue Cross called the treatment experimental and therefore not worth covering. Especially at the price: The bone-marrow transplant Lorraine wanted runs $180,000 or more.
So, with no other immediate options - a lengthy court battle would take months that Lorraine didn't have - she went public with her story, hoping to pay for the costly procedure with donations.
Having to share her medical condition so openly was a step she never wanted to take. But, urged along by her husband, Frank, she saw no other choice. She already was in the late stages of cancer.
The ensuing publicity helped them raise $130,000; the stark picture of a wigged and pallid mother with her two young sons was hard to resist. Her story also helped to raise public scrutiny of insurance coverage and led to other breast cancer patients coming forward with their stories.
And often leading the blitz was Frank.
Throughout their battle with Blue Cross, he worked tirelessly to garner support for Lorraine and to advocate the merits of the bone-marrow transplant she and others sought.
Common for treating leukemia and lymphoma, it only recently has been used to treat breast cancer patients, and there remains some debate over its effectiveness. As many as one in 10 women die from the treatment alone.
But Frank and Lorraine are adamant.
They say Blue Cross is just being cheap, ignoring accepted medical practices and dragging its feet while families suffer.
Now, nearly a year after her treatment at Duke University Medical Center, Lorraine shows no signs of cancer. Her strength has returned, and she is growing her hair out again. She and her husband are also going after Blue Cross in court.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB