My Dad was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer in Oct 2020. At that time, my parents were in a really good place. They had purchased a camper prior to him being diagnosed and were enjoying traveling. Then he received his diagnosis. While the cancer was caught at stage 3, it is non operable at this point and he is still on oral chemo. He went on SSDI in August 2021. For those that don’t know how that works, you have to be off work for 6 months, and he personally was not able to receive an income during that time to be eligible for SSDI. When that happened, they had to take a $50,000 pay cut.
Luckily, they had their savings and were able to keep up with all the bills. But that only lasted a little over a year. They have used their 401k to help keep up, but the bills are still there. Well now that money is gone as well. While they have good insurance, it doesn’t pay for everything, like gas and food. My mother has to get a second job just to have food on the table and gas in the cars, and a second job still might not cover enough. They have never lived beyond their means, but they always made sure that us kids had what we needed. Now they will have to start choosing what is most important.
They have 4 children, all of which are 20 and older and just starting their families or going to school. They have worked really hard all their lives and instilled in myself and my siblings a great work ethic, especially Dad. They are just now needing help. As long as Dad can tolerate the oral chemo, and it keeps the cancer from growing or spreading, he will keep fighting. At some point it may stop working as his cancer is aggressive. Anyone who knows the statistics for Pancreatic cancer know they are not on his side. The longer he has this cancer, the survival rates keep getting slimmer.
He has survived almost 3 years with this and keeps fighting. And because they have always been frugal, they were blessed with 3 years of being able to pay their bills without asking for help. I know there are people who don’t even have that luxury. They thought this day might come, but they were hoping that it wouldn’t. We were all hoping that he would beat the odds and be able to go back to work. Unfortunately, that has not happened. I want him to keep fighting and not have to worry about their finances.
If they were able to receive financial support to help reduce some of their debts, then he would be able to concentrate even more on his fight. He has beaten the odds so far and our family wants to do whatever it takes to make sure he sees his Grandson Calvin grow up.