Patient navigators help breast cancer patients through the steps after diagnosis

A breast cancer diagnosis can bring a flood of new questions: which appointments come next, what the medical words mean, how treatment will be paid for, and who can help with rides. Patient navigators are the people whose job is to help sort those out. NBC 5 DFW's Alanna Quillen profiled the navigators who work with the Frisco-based National Breast Cancer Foundation, and the work reaches well past the hospital.

Tina Withrow, a community navigator with the foundation, has worked in patient navigation since 2001. She says the period right after a diagnosis can feel especially isolating, and she describes navigators as the people who answer the phone after hours. Community navigators may help someone struggling with a phone bill, set up transportation, or find support between medical visits. They also spend time getting to know patients and their families and help them prepare questions before appointments.

Foundation spokesperson Ashley Miller said the barriers to care go beyond money. Fear, misinformation, transportation, and language can all stand in the way, and the foundation works with hospitals in North Texas to fund navigators for patients whose insurance does not cover the service. Miller described how a bus voucher or a ride-share can sometimes be the difference in getting a patient to the hospital at all.

Breast cancer survivor Shona Sowell, diagnosed in 2022, joined a foundation support group and found a facilitator who had also led her mother's group more than 20 years earlier. Sowell said that after treatment ended she still struggled, and she now sees navigators as the guides who help patients return to daily life. Her story shows why the work matters after the medical care is done.

Original reporting by Alanna Quillen of NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth.