breast cancer survivor

Worry less and save money on your cancer treatment

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40 my first and foremost concern was of course for my health and to be able to see my two young daughters Jessica (then 5 yrs) and Emily (then almost 2 yrs) grow up.

My second concern was how much my cancer treatment would cost and how much of a financial hardship it would be for my family. I was (and still am) a stay at home mom, so our family was already on a pretty tight budget.

I spent a lot of sleepless nights worrying about how much my treatment of chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation would cost and how we would pay for it.

I was soon committed to not let my cancer treatment be a financial drain on my family. As you go through cancer treatment you have a lot of nights that you have trouble sleeping either due to the treatment medications you are taking or the worry in your mind and in your heart.

I decided whenever I couldn’t sleep I would research ways to save money on my cancer treatment and apply for anything that I could in order to save as much money as possible on my treatment.

Had I known through my ten months of treatment all that I know now I could have applied for programs earlier and maximized more of my benefits and probably had many fewer sleepless nights worrying about how we would pay for my treatment.

My goal is to help others who are burdened by this horrible disease called cancer. Hopefully the information on Cancerbutterfly.com will ease your mind about the financial side of your treatment, so you can focus on your health.

I wish you much luck with your health and your financial side of cancer.

I could have saved an additional $2,326.57 on my cancer treatment!

If I had found out about these money saving cancer treatment programs earlier in my breast cancer treatment I could have saved an additional $2,326.57 on my out of pocket co-pays!

I did save $4,276.61 on my out of pocket co-pays for my cancer treatment, however finding out at the end of my treatment that I could have saved an additional $2,326.57 was devastating!

That was money that came directly out of my family’s pocket since I didn’t know about all the cost savings available to me at the beginning or even middle of my treatment! Many of the money saving programs available have time deadlines relating to your treatment and many of the programs also have retro rules regarding how far back in time they will allow you to use your benefits on prior treatments that occurred before the date you were actually “approved” in order to use your awarded benefits.

Since I had found out about these programs so late in my treatment, (I actually found out about them after had just finished chemotherapy), I had been awarded a certain amount of benefits that I could use but I was only able to use it on my last chemo treatment due to the programs retro rules on how far back you are allowed to use your awarded benefits 🙁

Needless to say this was extremely disappointing and frustrating to find out! So my hope is to help other cancer patients learn about and understand these programs as early as possible in their treatment so they can save as much money as possible on their out of pocket cancer treatment expenses.

Welcome to Cancer Butterfly! Learn how to save money on your cancer treatment!

The Cancer Butterfly website is officially open!

My name is Danielle Rivera and I am a seven year breast cancer survivor, I created this site to celebrate my seven year breast cancer survivor anniversary on September 4, 2016.

Since going through ten months of cancer treatment myself, I learned how expensive cancer treatment can be and what a burden it can financially be on a family.

This is a site designed to help cancer patients learn how to save money on their out of pocket cancer treatment expenses.

The resource pages will help guide you smoothly through your treatment by providing information on the different types of wigs available, how to set up an electronic meal delivery calendar, dental advice for how to take care of your gums and teeth during chemotherapy treatment, tips on how to keep all your medical paperwork organized, and even how to get free hotel nights and airfare for medical treatment or for a much needed vacation 🙂

Our family was able to save $4,276.61! This is the actual amount I saved on my “out of pocket” cancer medical expenses, this amount would have come directly out of our families pocket had I not found additional programs and resources that help cancer patients with their “out of pocket” cancer related medical expenses.

I am excited to share all the resources that I uncovered during my treatment and help guide cancer patients and their families along the way. My family lives on the central coast of California. My husband is a Firefighter for the US Forest Service and we have two daughters, Jessica who just turned 13 years old and Emily who is 9 years old.

Saving money has turned into somewhat of a hobby of mine, whether it is on groceries, household items, hotel stays, air fare, or cancer treatment, I am interested to find out how to save money and look at it as a fun rewarding challenge that I am excited to help others succeed with as well, especially cancer patients!