Each
month 10 to 15 calls come in with women (and some men) seeking help in their
journey with breast cancer. Each call leads into individuals sharing just how
difficult it is for them to manager their day-to-day concerns.
Eighty percent
of these callers find themselves out of work while trying to manage their
chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment visits, daycare, meals, and keeping up
with their monthly bills.
Breast Cancer – What's Not Talked About
Having
always had excellent insurance coverage through my husband’s job, I took it for
granted that everyone has good coverage like ours. Three years ago, I began to
receive an education in the plight of others. What I have learned was that most
insurers do not cover the full cost of cancer treatments. When individuals have
go through several rounds of chemotherapy and possibly radiation treatments of
30 to 40 visits, the co-pays alone can become overwhelming.
Many individuals
will experience side effects such as nausea, headaches or extreme exhaustion
which prohibits them from being able to work. Some are able to leave their jobs
on short-term disability, but others find themselves out of work because they
could not perform their duties.
For so many Americans, the average family is unable to plan for a major illness and they simply pray that they remain in good health. Breast cancer has no respect of age, color, or sex. When it strikes it can exhaust a family’s resources in a short span of time. Where does one turn for help?
For so many Americans, the average family is unable to plan for a major illness and they simply pray that they remain in good health. Breast cancer has no respect of age, color, or sex. When it strikes it can exhaust a family’s resources in a short span of time. Where does one turn for help?
Many
states have programs that afford the underserved community in getting free
mammograms with respect to detection, but what happens once detected and you
have no insurance? Health reform may help with some of these concerns. Yet,
there will still be areas of a family’s needs that will not be addressed by any
reform. If the family income is reduced because one member can’t continue to
work, is there a fund for getting the car note taken care?
How about day care
assistance or school tuition for the kids? Maybe it took both income earners to
cover the house note, so where is there help for one’s mortgage because you are
sick?
Now
some would say, people just need to adjust and scale down their standard of
living. No one asks to get breast cancer (or any illness for that fact) and yet
it seems a shame that there are no programs available to help people through
these types of medical crisis. (If there are some, their scope of assistance is
very limited.) For many within 6 months to a year their middle-class-making-do
status has disappeared and they find themselves looking for public assistance
for food, housing and a job.
It
is easy to make quick judgments when you stand on the outside of someone’s
situation. However, when you take time to listen to their cries for help, not
always loud because they are too overwhelmed and depressed with their
circumstances, you begin to see that you could easily fall victim to their
plight if the roles were reversed.
Do
you know someone who is battling breast cancer right now? Don’t assume
everything is okay with them. Look closely, listen quietly, and see if you can
hear their faint cry for help. You may not be able to solve the big problem of
covering those unanticipated medical expenses, but maybe you can fix a meal or
do the grocery shopping for the family, offer to watch the kids, or form a car
pool to take the patient to their treatments. For a single woman with children
this kind of help is invaluable.
There
are no quick answers to these questions, but I believe we can all perform small
acts of kindness that will make a difference to those battling breast cancer
and other illnesses. If we all begin to make small efforts in helping our
family member, friend or neighbor, we will eventually be able to take on the
bigger concerns and bring about true change.
Denice
Whalen-White
Executive Director
All Shades of Pink, Incorporated
http://www.allshadesofpink.org
Executive Director
All Shades of Pink, Incorporated
http://www.allshadesofpink.org
Tag :
Breast Cancer
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