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Cancer patients fear catching virus when getting chemo treatment

The American Cancer Society says 80% of their phone calls are from people concerned about receiving cancer treatment during the pandemic.

DES MOINES, Iowa — The American Cancer Society reports 80 percent of calls to them, right now, are all concerned people undergoing cancer treatment with the fear of getting Covid-19 when they go in for chemotherapy.

Morgan Newman was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of 24 and Dominic Gentile was 25-years-old when he was diagnosed with metastatic sarcoma.

"I'm nervous my immune system could be compromised if I went to the doctor. You know, when you go through chemotherapy treatment your body gets wiped out," says Newman. "Your immune system has to learn how to fight off all these things and try to rebuild, gradually."

Newman is four years out of remission.

"It really is imperative that you get in there and get your treatment," says Gentile. "If you're too worried about catching Covid than you're, kind of, letting your cancer run ramped if you're not letting the doctors treat you."

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