DOI: 10.1097/01.COT.0000326171.34970.8d
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Issn Print: 0276-2234
Publication Date: 2008/06/25
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Excerpt
She was 65 and a long-time survivor of Stage IV Hodgkin's disease. Her advocacy started in the 1980s when she participated in a clinical trial at the National Cancer Institute, honing her expertise and critical eye as a cancer treatment consumer, and writing about the experience in the Washington Post in 1988.
In a very large sea of cancer patient advocates, Ms. Delaney distinguished herself as being one of the very few employed by a federal agency with the mission of reaching out to patients, not unlike the late Eleanor Nealon of the NCI.
But Ms. Delaney's office of 15 years was in the Food and Drug Administration's Cancer Liaison Program, which she helped start and where she dedicated her heart, soul, and mind to help patients as its Associate Director.
I learned of Patty's death toward the end of the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago, and was immediately struck that I was then in her beloved native city, and that it was at ASCO many, many, many meetings ago that we had first met and become friends.
When I began organizing and planning the “Medicine and the Media” conference at the Mayo Clinic that was finally held in 2002, Patty was one of the first people I called to sit on the advisory board. Her perspective as an advocate, survivor, and FDA insider and her outspoken manner brought a wonderful perspective to the meeting.
Patty was loved and admired by many people. At her funeral service June 7 in Washington, DC, her home since 1967 following graduation from Barat College, more than 200 people paid their respects, many of them notable figures in various sectors of the cancer community.
Theresa Toiga, head of FDA's Office of Special Health Issues, which oversees the Cancer Liaison Program, related how Ms. Delaney had insisted she should be hired in 1993, and “she never stopped telling me what to do,” she said, including acting as one of Ms. Delaney's handpicked eulogizers at the funeral.
Others who spoke included patient advocate Jane Reese-Coulbourne and Ms. Delaney's close friend of more than 25 years, Shelore Williams.
Many of the mourners shared stories of Ms. Delaney's well-known penchant for clothes shopping and love of shoes, and some even acknowledged privately that they were wearing shoes purchased when accompanying her on one of her often-therapeutic outings.
Ms. Williams recalled how Ms. Delaney could “fuss” with people to get them to do things for her, using her own son as an example but drawing many smiling gestures from those who had also been fussed with over the years.
Ms. Reese-Coulbourne said that Patty had told her “a couple of weeks ago that I was to speak at her funeral for three, maybe four, minutes tops, and I was to be funny!”
“Well, not wanting to let her down, I've been agonizing over how to do this ever since,” Ms. Reese-Coulborne continued. “So, based on a suggestion from a couple of my colleagues, I decided to reach out to some of Patty's closest advocacy buddies for some help. Amazingly more then 25 people responded, and while I must admit I was not doubled up in laughter, I did find myself smiling a lot. The remarks and stories came from folks in the patient advocacy community as well as those who work in the pharmaceutical industry. It seems that she was equally impactful with both.” (see box)
During my own last conversation with Ms.
