For those who have been touched by cancer – whether they are patients, caregivers or family members – having a compassionate team of people to support them on their cancer journey can make all the difference.
Debra Gold learned firsthand the healing effects of receiving holistic care and support as a patient at the Simms/Mann UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology. She refers to her team, which includes a psychiatrist, a social worker and a chaplain, as “a squad of angels who are clever about hiding their wings.”
“I am so grateful to have them as a resource,” says Gold, 70. “I’ve always been a believer in therapy, and I think that they have an extra layer of compassion and understanding that is healing.”
Complex surgery
Gold was diagnosed with stage 1 pancreatic cancer in 2020. Because the cancer was detected early – during a cardiac procedure at UCLA Health – she was a candidate for a pancreaticoduodenectomy, also known as a Whipple procedure.
The complex operation involves removing the head of the pancreas where the tumor lies, the first part of the small intestine, the gallbladder and the bile duct. UCLA Health surgeons perform more than 100 Whipple procedures each year.
Gold received chemotherapy for six months before the surgery and was fed intravenously for nine months afterward. A year later she had surgery to remove a hernia “the size of a beach ball,” and since then has lost about 100 pounds.
Gold says she has been weak and chronically malnourished since the hernia surgery. She now resides in a skilled nursing facility in Santa Monica. Since October 2023, she has had three brushes with death, the most recent when her body was riddled with sepsis after a procedure to remove fluid from her abdomen.
Although her doctors say they cannot detect any viable cancer cells through cytology (examining cells from bodily tissues or fluid), she lives with the threat of cancer returning like “the sword of Damocles. It’s always hanging over my head,” she says.
Treated as a person
Gold meets virtually with her Simms/Mann oncology team. Through the center’s integrative offerings of psychiatric services as well as psychosocial, nutritional and spiritual support, she has learned to understand her situation and put it into perspective.
“You’re treated as a person, not as a patient,” she says about the care she received. “You’re talked with as a soul who is going through a really challenging time of acceptance and of pain and everything else. And as a result, the kindness and the ability to comfort someone and listen to them becomes critically important.”
Gold says her work with Mona Mojtahedzadeh, MD, a psychiatrist at the Simms/Mann Center, has deepened her capacity for gratitude and taught her a lot about herself.
“My experience with Dr. Mona and the others on my team has been not only positive but helpful to me in terms of helping me understand that the feelings of fear I have are not out of line for what I’ve been through,” Gold explains. “They are able to not only make me feel listened to but, in an odd sort of way, make me feel normal.”
Bruins for life
Gold credits her husband, Peter Spitzer, MD, for getting her through her toughest times.
“He’s been at my side for every consultation, every doctor’s appointment, in the hospital or at chemo. He’s been like a guardian angel,” she says.
Gold and her husband are both proud Bruins.
Dr. Spitzer, a Harvard Medical School-trained physician and a leader in health care technology, did his medical residency at UCLA and earned an Executive MBA there. Gold earned a professional designation in public relations and marketing at UCLA and was a frequent guest lecturer in entrepreneurial media relations at UCLA. In 1984, she founded Gold & Company, a nationally recognized strategic marketing firm.
All their doctors are at UCLA Health, she says, and will be for life.
“I adore my doctors – my oncologist and my cardiologist and the support team at UCLA, I adore them,” Gold says. “The care that they’ve given me, the attention, the kindness is so elevated. I can’t imagine that there’s another place in the country that does it better than UCLA does.”
