By Katie Kindelan, ABC News
A female firefighter in Colorado who learned that her treatment for breast cancer would not be covered under her health coverage fought for change in order to level the playing field for all firefighters.
Tracy Post, a lieutenant in the Westminster, Colorado, fire department, was diagnosed with stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma in November 2019.
Post, 45, who has worked for the fire department since 2013, had to undergo a double mastectomy and four rounds of chemotherapy to treat her cancer, followed by breast reconstruction.
As she began her treatment, Post said she discovered that breast cancer was not one of the five types of cancer covered under the Colorado Firefighter Heart and Cancer Benefits Trust, which provides mandated cardiac and voluntary cancer benefits to the state’s firefighters.
Even though Post’s appeals had been denied and she would not benefit from a change in the trust’s coverage, the mother of two set out to change the rule to help her fellow female firefighters. While undergoing treatment for her own breast cancer, she spent what she describes as “every waking moment” compiling data and statistics in a presentation to compel the trust to add breast cancer coverage.
“I just wanted to make sure that the ladies I work with get the benefit if one of them happens to get breast cancer down the road,” said Post. “Or somebody else who is a firefighter because she loves helping people and it’s the right thing to do for her community, I want to make sure that she knows that her back is covered if something goes wrong down the line.”
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