Elen Kalashyan is facing the fight of her life.

What started as breast cancer has now spread throughout her body. In order to have any chance of surviving, Elen must get a dose of every twenty days. Each dose costs $3,000.

Elen’s salary is 80,000 AMD per month ($205). She is scheduled to receive her next dose by April 10. The young woman doesn’t know where to turn for the money.

According to her physicians, Herceptin remains Elen’s only hope.

After being diagnosed with cancer, Elen underwent surgery at the Shengavit Medical Center in Yerevan. She was told that chemotherapy would be the next step in her treatment regimen.

Elen put off chemotherapy due to financial constraints. The cancer metastasized.

The staff at the Armenian-American Mammography Center in Yerevan knows Elen by name. They were surprised by the aggressive form of breast cancer Elen was diagnosed with.

Ani Hakobyan, who runs the Radiology Unit at the Center, believes that the cancer could have been controlled had Elen undergone chemotherapy in time.

“Unfortunately, Elen started her chemo after the cancer had already spread. Her condition is serious. Herceptin isn’t the only medication she’s taking but it’s the most important one,” said Hakobyan.

The full herceptin regimen includes 18 doses at a cost of $54,000.  Elen has already received 13 and remembers the history of each.

“Two doses were given free of charge by the Ministry of Health. I purchased the rest with the assistance of friends, family and donors. The Tsarukyan Fund and ArmenTel made large financial donations,” Elen relates.

She says that a friend opened a facebook page for her. Elen is thankful for the moral and monetary support she has received as a result of the news getting out regarding her illness.

Doctors overseas suggested herceptin to Elen after she sent her diagnosis and medical files to a hospital in Israel. She was also told about herceptin by physicians in Moscow and Germany.

When Elen consulted her doctors in Armenia, she was told that the medicine was prohibitively expensive. They advised against the drug.

They told her she needed a mastectomy. Elen didn’t want to hear anything about it. It wasn’t a treatment option for her.

Radiologist Hakobyan says the drug seems to be working. The metastases in her liver have disappeared and the bone cancer has “hardened”

Hakobyan says that Elen needs to get the full herceptin regimen or else everything done up till now will be for naught.

Elen meanwhile dreams of getting her next dose in time.

She would like to see the government be mandated to cover the medical costs of women suffering from cancer, rather than the hit and miss charity now being extended.

“Who can be covered when such an illness occurs? Where will I possibly find a job that pays $3,000 every twenty days? My research shows that there are some countries that actually cover the costs of herceptin-based treatment.”