Bill Thiel, a landscaper and handyman by trade, is now a passionate patient-safety advocate. He is also an Advisory Board member of the Cautious Patient Foundation.
Bill tirelessly advocates for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. Bill’s motivation is drawn from personal tragedy—the death of his wife Maureen in 1998 due to the failure of an early breast cancer diagnosis. In spite of visiting multiple doctors over the course of two years with concerns about a breast lump, Maureen’s cancer was not diagnosed until it was Stage IV—after they did a biopsy to actually test what the lump was made of. Bill promised Maureen that he would recount her story and help other women avoid a similar fate.
To spread awareness for the cause, in 2005 Bill founded the non-profit Maureen’s Mission organization to push relentlessly for legislation requiring doctors to follow a standardized approach to the evaluation of breast lumps. This approach would require doctors to inform women with a breast lump about the possible need for a biopsy for further evaluation.
The author of “A Promise Fulfilled: One Couple’s Journey through Misdiagnosis,” Bill has been featured as a guest on CNN Headline Newsmakers and Montel Williams. He was a 2008 nominee for Person of the Year by The Citizens’ Voice (of northeast Pennsylvania), and was nominated for a 2008 Jefferson Award. He is actively working with the Pennsylvania State Health Department and the Pennsylvania legislature to implement an early diagnosis plan for women with breast lumps.
Bill lives in West Pittston, Pennsylvania, with his two sons Erik and Ryan and his second wife Lisa.
