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JuliaHallisyremembers daughter 's battle with cancer — and HMO By Sharon Abercrombie I 5iM / ' hen Julia Hallisy testified in favor of a federal Patients Bill of \ / \ / Righ ts, an unseen presence , a loving energy - was there , too: / / her daughter Kate who lost her life to cancer last year when she was only 10 years old. Mrs. Hallisy, a member of both St. Brendan and St. Cecilia parishes in San Francisco, testified June 25 at a hearing in San Francisco City Hall in support of a bill , introduced by Senator Tom Daschle , designed to ensure that other families would not go through what she, her husband John and Kate endured for the greater part of 10 years. The bill , which was approved by the U.S. Senate four days later, would ensure that all Americans with public or private health insurance have access to emergency care, medical specialists and clinical ding trials. It would also allow them to sue their HMO if they were denied service. The issue became more complicated last week, when the House of Representatives passed a Republican alternative to the Daschle bill. The two bills will be subject to negotiations when Congress returns next month from its summer recess. When she was alive, Kate Hallisy had been connected, every step of the way, as her mother joined local, and then , national efforts to advocate for the passage of a Patients' Bill of Rights. Kate cheered as her mother, a San Francisco dentist, researched material for a book she was writing to help other peop le fight for their medical rights. Even at her young age, these issues "were very important to my daughter, " said Mrs. Hallisy. Kate 's stoiy is a classic example of why there needs to be a Patients ' Bill of Rights, her mother said. In October 1989, Katherine Eileen Hallisy was diagnosed with bi-lateral retinoblastoma— malignant tumors in both eyes. She was only five months old. Retinoblastom a is caused b y a genetic defect triggered during the first few weeks of a pregnancy. The 13th chromosome does not line up correctl y and genes become transposed , explained Mrs. Hallisy. Normally, retinoblastoma is a curable type of cancer, with recovery odds between 70 and 80 percent. At fi rst doctors were optimistic. "If you have to have cancer, this is the kind to get, " they said encouragingly. HALLISY, page 12
First Communion was a joyfu l day for Kate Hallisy.
Dream fulfilled Two Marin schools help Guatemalan youngsters By Evelyn Zappia
TAn January, Catholic San Francisco reported that Bill Cuneo , long-time
Hundr eds attend the dedication and blessing of Our Lady of Ml Carmel School in Patzun, Guatemala.
parishioner of Fairfax 's St. Rita Parish , was raising funds to build a school for the children of Patzun , Guatemala, who were attending classes in an old "mud house." On July 14, Mr. Cuneo and other donors attended a fiesta in Patzun marking the dedication of the new Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School, built with the help of $ 100,000 raised by his efforts. The two-story concrete structu re with eight classrooms, including a balcony with ornamental rod iron, was a long-time dream of Carmelite Sister Ana Maria Chavejax. She wrote Mr. Cuneo late last year requesting $700 ''for a few bricks, " to start her campaign to provide a decent learning environment for the 600 Mayan children living in the surrounding villages. CUNEO, page 7