Walk event aims to spread awareness

Family discusses risks of medical procedure

In September of 2013, Kalispell native Nancy Curtis had surgery to remove a benign tumor. Eight days later she was diagnosed with Stage 4 sarcoma cancer.

Five months after the diagnosis that eventually took Curtis’ life, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) called for a “black box warning” for power morcellators — the tool Ray Curtis believes led to his wife’s rapid cancer growth.

“I can’t remember that moment exactly, when we connected the dots from the surgery to the diagnosis, but we didn’t have a lot to say at the time other than ‘My God,’” Curtis said. “Nancy never wanted to dwell on that, she wanted to dwell on fighting the cancer. But now, it needs to be talked about.”

Nancy died on Dec. 19, 2015. She was 53.

This Saturday, friends, family and others will gather at the head of the Kim Williams Trail in Missoula a few miles from the Curtis home to celebrate the life of the Sentinel High School Spanish teacher.

The 1 p.m. event will also be a chance to talk about proposed legislation that Curtis said could prevent stories like theirs from happening again.

Since his wife’s death, Curtis has become one of the advocates pushing for legislation known as the “Medical Device Guardian’s Act.”

The act, introduced in June, is intended to help raise awareness of the possible risks of medical devices that could harm patients. Sponsors like Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke have said the bill’s foundation rests on a frustration toward medical professionals waiting too long to share with patients the risks tied to laparoscopic power morcellators.

Doctors use power morcellators in tens of thousands of procedures a year for hysterectomies or to shred benign growths known as fibroids.

But uterine sarcoma cancers can masquerade as fibroids and are extremely hard to recognize until after a surgery. Using a morcellator can spread malignancies and diseased tissues inside the body, possibly worsening outcomes, according to the FDA.

Doctors and patients typically discover that a patient’s “fibroid” was actually cancer after the surgery when pathologists are able test the broken up tissue. By then, the cancerous cells could have circulated throughout the patient’s body — causing their undetected Stage 1 cancer to jump to Stage 4.

According FDA estimations, one in 350 women undergoing a hysterectomy or myomectomy for fibroids have uterine sarcoma.

Currently, the FDA requires hospitals and manufacturers to report deaths and serious injuries linked to medical tools to the agency’s database of adverse events.

However, doctors are excluded from the requirement.

If passed, the Medical Device Guardian’s Act would add doctors to the list of people mandated to report device concerns.

“Nancy’s condition was not rare and her story could have very well been the story of a woman in my own family,” Zinke said when he announced his support of the act. “Personal care, rather than ‘what’s good for most is good for all,’ is where health care needs to go.”

Curtis said when he and his wife initially met with doctors, the morcellator was described as the “convenient option” — a minimally invasive surgery that would let her heal quickly to get back to life.

Roughly a week after her surgery, scans revealed cancer had bombarded Nancy’s chest cavity and spread through 23 places within her torso, Curtis said.

“It’s taken too long for people to realize that what happened to Nance is not rare, and that some hospitals are still offering this as a simple surgery without telling women about the risks,” he said.

While Nancy’s surgery took place in Missoula, officials from Kalispell Regional Medical Center and North Valley Hospital reported they are not using the power morcellator.

Missoula Community Medical Center was unable to confirm before press time whether the hospital still uses power morcellators.

Nancy’s mother, LeAna Sacrison of Kalispell, said she never imagined she would outlive her daughter.

“Most moms don’t,” she said while holding a photo of Nancy a few months before her surgery.

“It’s a strange thing, for your daughter’s death to be used as an example,” Sacrison said. “It’s hard because we know what we’ve lost, but I want to tell everyone, anyone who will listen to me about this.”

Sacrison said the walk this Saturday will be part of that effort. Zinke is expected to give an update on the Medical Device Guardian’s Act progress, which is lined up for review by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

She said after Zinke outlines his hopes for the act, the expected small crowd will take to the trail leading into Hellgate Canyon.

In the photo Sacrison held of her daughter, Nancy is walking in the woods. It’s fall and she’s smiling toward the camera.

Sacrison said walking was Nancy’s outlet through her illness.

“Even when she didn’t feel well, she was out on that trail, for a long time she out-walked me when I would visit her in Missoula,” she said. “This time, I’ll be walking for her — not with her — but it’s something.”

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.