As the pandemic hit last year, cancer screenings, diagnoses and treatments got canceled or delayed.

The toll of those dark months now is becoming visible.

Patients are coming into hospitals with advanced cancer.

A thread: https://www.propublica.org/article/a-crisis-of-undiagnosed-cancers-is-emerging-in-the-pandemics-second-year

Like the pandemic itself, the impact is expected to hit communities of color particularly hard. Black Americans already die of all cancers combined at a higher rate than any other racial group. And cancer is the leading cause of death among Latinos.

I spent the last few months following Teresa, a 48-year-old Chicago factory worker and mother who has spent more than 20 years working at the same facility to support her family. She kept working during the pandemic despite pain and swelling in her breast.

Like many others, she had delayed seeing a doctor. She feared contracting COVID and worried she'd lose much-needed income if she took off work. When the pain was unbearable, she went to the ER. “I hope it’s just an infection,” she thought.

She was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.

Her son Sergio has served as his mother’s lifeline to a world beyond the factory. At 6, he interpreted at doctor's appointments. In college, he translated foreclosure records alone in his dorm. Now, he has put his life on hold & deferred medical school plans to help care for her

Dr. Pam Khosla, oncologist at Chicago's Mt Sinai hospital, said fear of COVID kept patients away. She’s now seeing a flood of patients, like Teresa, with advanced cancer. One had a grapefruit-sized mass on his neck
“He never got to see the light of treatment,” she said of another

All of the oncologists and experts I spoke to had the same message: Don't delay. Hospitals have taken all sorts of safety precautions. They advise if you missed a screening or canceled a doctor's appointment or are worried about what may or may not be a lump, go to the doctor.

The expected death toll is overwhelming. @theNCI has predicted almost 10,000 excess deaths over the next decade from breast and colorectal cancer alone because of pandemic-related delays in diagnosis and treatment.

Teresa's story is one that will stay with me for a long time. I am honored she let me tell it. I’m grateful to her and her family for welcoming me into their home & to Dr. Khosla for allowing me to shadow her. Their hope is that this story may help others https://www.propublica.org/article/a-crisis-of-undiagnosed-cancers-is-emerging-in-the-pandemics-second-year

I couldn't have done this story w/o the brilliant @otraletra!

Amazing assist @msanchezMIA, phenomenal editing @louisekiernan; plus @AndreaWise_ @CopyCurmudgeon @loganjaffe @lizziepresser @AvaKofman @charlesornstein @AlexandraZayas @tracyweber @fieldsrobin & @AGarciaPhoto