My Truth About the Financial Toll of Cancer
When you hear that you have cancer, your first thoughts are about surviving, physical pain, and even the fear of dying. What they don’t warn you about is the crushing financial toll. No one seems to talk about the actual costs of fighting this disease. Cancer is insanely expensive, and it bleeds you dry while you are fighting for your life.
The medical bills pile up instantly. You are immediately hit with high chemotherapy costs, radiation fees, and sometimes expensive hospital stays. There are co-pays, deductibles, and the prescription drug prices are relentless.
My out-of-pocket insurance maximum was thousands of dollars and that must be paid every year. The medical community wants to be paid before services are rendered. If not cash up front then your payment obligations must be arranged in advance. Before one of my surgeries, they actually asked me to bring over $5,000 just to check in. I obviously had to set up payment arrangements. Working with the financial services department was not as hard as I anticipated.
As if the bills weren’t enough, my ability to earn a living took a massive hit. Treatment requires time off from work, and many times, this was unpaid. The exhaustion and other severe side effects led to reduced working hours. The long-term career impact for me has been devastating. I was terminated from my job after my lower left lobe lobectomy surgery. I have over 13 years in that industry and in management but that didn’t seem to matter.
Healthy people just do not understand that a cancer diagnosis does not limit you and you are not a business liability. The opposite is true for me. I was determined to do well, work hard and maintain a sense of normalcy.
The hidden daily costs drain you have left. Gas and parking for countless visits, plus travel to distant facilities, add up fast. I frequently drove two and a half hours each way just to get second opinions. Then there are the unexpected expenses, like needing special food when your taste buds change, or having to buy a wig.
The letters and emails from my hospital’s billing departments never stop. I have accumulating credit card debt, sometimes have difficulty paying regular bills, and may face severe financial instability if I don’t get a handle on this. I had to swallow my pride and allow a friend to set up GoFundMe for me. It felt like begging, and I hated asking for help just to financially survive. I raised a few thousand dollars, which helped but it was not enough.
Even when the active treatment ends, (I am in remission now) the financial burden does not. I face ongoing monitoring and regular follow-up scans. Every PET scan, CT scan, port flush and blood test comes with a price tag. Even with insurance, there are still those annual deductibles and co-pays.
I have used all my savings. This bothered me until I realized that this was what my savings were for. I spent years saving money for emergencies and this certainly was a health emergency. I accept that I will probably be in debt for the rest of my life because of these medical bills. I’m happy that I have a ‘rest of my life’.
It is a bitter pill to swallow, but I am still standing, still fighting, and I am NOT BROKEN.
If this article resonated with you, you should read NOT BROKEN The Unfiltered Daily Truth in Fighting Cancer. The book goes deeper into the day-to-day realities of cancer—honestly, practically, and without filters.
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