The Unbearable Cost of Guesswork in Healthcare

The pain of losing my dear aunt, Mammy, on February 6th, 2025, is still raw. What hurts the most, is the agonizing truth behind her passing. For years, Mammy battled what we were told were ulcers, then pneumonia, then arthritis, then gastritis — a relentless cycle of misdiagnoses that saw her constantly in and out of hospitals. Mammy’s death happened 10 months after the demise of my foster brother, Philip Baraka, (Mammy’s son). From running around with his favorite dog on Tuesday, to ICU on 24th to the disturbing news of his death on 25th in May, 2024.

On that devastating day, February 5th, 2025, Mammy was diagnosed with: Hodgkin Lymphoma. A type of cancer that attacks the lymphatic system, it had, in silence and undetected, slowly consumed every vital organ in her body. My Mammy endured a prolonged and excruciating death, a...