cancer expenses

Breast Cancer Charities of America – Help Now Fund

The Breast Cancer Charities of America – Help Now Fund is a program for current breast cancer patients, providing financial assistance for living expenses. Grants range in values of up to $1,000 based on the availability of funds AND needs of the applicant.

This foundation is committed to helping as many people as possible through their cancer related financial struggles with their Help Now Fund.
The Help Now Fund assists with:

rent or mortgage payments
utility bills (electricity, water, and/or gas)
cell phone bills
car payments.

***The Help Now Fund does not assist with transportation costs, food assistance, and cable/internet bills.

**Join our FREE private Breast Cancer Financial Help and Resources – Cancer Butterfly Facebook Group to ask questions, share info, and get in the info sharing first hand 🙂

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Breast Cancer Solutions Foundation

This foundation was created in 1998 to eliminate barriers to breast cancer treatment for patients experiencing financial hardship. Provides temporary financial assistance to eligible patients who are experiencing financial hardship as result of their treatment.A community with full access to breast cancer treatment. This foundation wishes to provide breast cancer patients with direct assistance, community referrals, and compassionate support.

Breast Cancer Solutions provides clients with the following services to protect access to breast cancer treatment:

Temporary financial assistance to ensure stable housing, transportation, adequate nutrition and the ability to pay for out of pocket medical expenses during treatment
Community-based patient navigation to other resources that provide further types of breast cancer support services
A one-stop resource for patients to receive compassionate support and mental health assessment and support

**Join our FREE private Breast Cancer Financial Help and Resources – Cancer Butterfly Facebook Group to ask questions, share info, and get in the info sharing first hand 🙂

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Do you understand how cancer grants work?

You could be missing out on a lot of financial help if you don’t fully understand how cancer financial grants work.

There are retro rules for each grant, “back door” ways to get approved even if they say the funding is closed for the specific grant you are needing to apply to, and different names for the drugs you may be receiving (grants may be listed under the brand name OR the generic name) …….

**Chemotherapy and drug co-payment assistance grants have specific time deadlines and depending on the Foundation program may only go retro for 30-180 days (some go a year retro) from your “approved” date, so it is VERY important to apply for these right away.

Make sure you fully understand how the grants work BEFORE applying for any grants!

Check out our…….

Chemotherapy and Drug Grant Overview Page to understand the entire process

**Join our FREE private Breast Cancer Financial Help and Resources – Cancer Butterfly Facebook Group to ask questions, share info, and get in the info sharing first hand 🙂

Click the compass below to check out all of our other FREE resources:

Dial 2-1-1 for Local Resources & Assistance

Here is another great resource! Dial 2-1-1 A free confidential service that offers information and support across North America and many parts of Canada!

2-1-1 is a free confidential referral and information helpline and website that offers help relating to financial, domestic, health, or disaster related issues.

2-1-1 can be reached either via phone or computer. Help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

They offer information and support relating to:

supplemental food and nutrition programs
shelter and housing options and utilities assistance
emergency information and disaster relief
employment and education opportunities
services for veterans
health care, vaccination and health epidemic information
addiction prevention and rehabilitation programs
reentry help for ex-offenders
support groups for individuals with mental illnesses or special needs
a safe, confidential path out of physical and/or emotional domestic abuse

Thousands of people call or visit 2-1-1 everyday seeking resources and assistance.

Call 2-1-1 and speak with a live, highly trained service professional in your area from any cell phone or landline. All calls are private and confidential.

**Join our FREE private Breast Cancer Financial Help and Resources – Cancer Butterfly Facebook Group to ask questions, share info, and get in the info sharing first hand 🙂

**Looking to save $$$ on your out of pocket cancer treatment medical costs ??? Click here to check out our FREE complete Cancer Butterfly Foundation Grant List

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New Grant Foundations for spring!

Happy Spring time! We have run across some new grant Foundations that may be helpful to you! The Foundations are not new, we just newly became aware of them. So we wanted to be sure to pass on the information on these Foundations right away…..

Everything from Foundations that offer non-medical cost-of-living help, transportation, home care and child care costs. Grants for help with outstanding medical bills, mortgage payments, tuition assistance and providing financial assistance for vacations!

My motto is apply for any that you may qualify for …..the worst they can say is “no” 🙂

***Here is the list of Foundations that have been newly added to our Cancer Butterfly Foundation List (go down the list and start applying today!):

The Pink Fund A non-profit breast cancer organization that provides 90-day non-medical cost-of-living to breast cancer patients in active treatment for breast cancer, so they can focus on healing, raising their families, and returning to the workplace.

Apply thru website: https://www.pinkfund.org/

The Pink Fund

P.O. Box 603

Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303

By Phone: 877.234.PINK (7465)

The Pink Fund partners with The Mary Herczog Fund for Metastatic Breast Cancer Survivors The Mary Herczog Fund for Metastatic Breast Cancer Survivors was launched in her honor to provide six months of financial support to women in treatment for metastatic breast cancer. Metastatic survivors diagnosed under 40, as was Mary, and awaiting Social Security Disability, may qualify under The Pink Fund’s guidelines. Check back to our site on March 31, 2018 for the official launch, including details on qualifications and applications.

Apply thru website: https://www.pinkfund.org/2018/03/26/partners-address-metastatic-breast-cancer-community/

The Pink Fund / The Mary Herczog Fund for Metastatic Breast Cancer Survivors

P.O. Box 603

Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303

By Phone: 877.234.PINK (7465)

Cancer Care The Financial Assistance Program helps with treatment-related costs, such as transportation, home care and child care. The Co-Payment Assistance Foundation helps with insurance co-payments to cover the cost of chemotherapy and targeted treatments.

Cancer Care

275 Seventh Avenue

New York, NY 10001

By Phone: 800‑813‑HOPE (4673)

Call to apply: Call 800-813-HOPE (4673) and speak with a CancerCare social worker to complete a brief interview. They can be reached from 10 a.m.–6 p.m. (ET) Monday through Thursday, and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. (ET) on Friday.

The Angela Andrade Foundation Grants have ranged from paying outstanding medical bills, mortgage payments, tuition assistance and providing financial assistance for vacations.

You are eligible to apply to the Angela Andrade Foundation if:

You are a patient with metastatic breast cancer
You are receiving treatment within the United States
You are a permanent resident of the United States

In order to apply for a grant, an applicant must mail a completed application to the address indicated below.

Download the application here: https://angelaandradefoundation.blogspot.com/p/srchttpsdocs.html

Grants will be given in $1,800 increments. Grants will be given on an as needed basis. Recipients are selected monthly and must wait a year before applying for another grant from The Angela Andrade Foundation. The applicant must submit a completed application including confirmation from a healthcare provider (through a sealed letter). When possible, all grant payments will be made directly to service providers on behalf of the individual recipient. In some instances recipients may be eligible for reimbursement, but they must provide receipts prior to expense reimbursement.

The Angela Andrade Foundation

The Dallas Foundation

Reagan Place at Old Parkland 3963 Maple Avenue, Suite 390

Dallas, Texas 75219

(214) 741-9898
Email: angelaandradefoundation@gmail.com

American Cancer Society Breakthrough research. Free lodging near treatment. A 24/7/365 live helpline. Rides to treatment. And much more!

Call to see what all they can help YOU with for your specific situation.

Cancer Help line: 800-227-2345

American Cancer Society Road to Recovery Program

The program is intended to assist with cancer-related appointments. Patients must provide a 3 business day advance notice, not including the first date a ride is needed, when making requests. All arrangements must be made through the American Cancer Society Patient Services department. Patients should NOT contact volunteer drivers directly to request rides.

American Cancer Society Patient Services department must be notified immediately if a patient’s plans change and a ride is no longer needed. The program is subject to volunteer availability. A request will be submitted to determine if drivers are available.

Patients will be notified no later than one business day before the scheduled appointment to provide a status update on the request and if a driver was found. (Patients may be notified sooner than this.) If a volunteer driver is found, patients may be contacted by the driver the night prior to the appointment.

Please feel free to call the American Cancer Society’s Patient Services department with any questions. Our toll-free number is 888-227-6333.

American Cancer Society – Hope Lodge Each Hope Lodge offers cancer patients and their caregivers a free place to stay when their best hope for effective treatment may be in another city. Not having to worry about where to stay or how to pay for lodging allows guests to focus on getting better. Hope Lodge provides a nurturing, home-like environment where guests can retreat to private rooms or connect with others. Every Hope Lodge also offers a variety of resources and information about cancer and how best to fight the disease.

Check out webpage for more info: https://www.cancer.org/treatment/support-programs-and-services/patient-lodging/hope-lodge.html

**Join our private Breast Cancer Financial Help and Resources – Cancer Butterfly Facebook Group to ask questions, share info, and get in the info sharing first hand 🙂

Click here to check out our complete Cancer Butterfly Foundation Grant List

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Some cancer grants cover chemo treatments received prior to being approved for the grant!

Several cancer grants actually allow you to use your awarded grant funds to cover chemo treatments and other cancer drugs that you received prior to being approved!

Some cancer grants allow you to use funds to cover treatments received up to 180 days prior to being approved for funding! So if you were approved for grant funding in say April, you could use your grant funds to cover chemo treatments or other drugs that you received all the way back to November.

All of the cancer grant foundations have different guidelines and rules that they follow as far as the amount of grant funding you receive and their “retro” rules.

Retro – (retroactive) Definition: to go back in time, how far the grant program will allow you to go back in time to use your benefits on treatments you have already received before you were actually “approved” for a grant award. Some grant programs will allow you to use your awarded grant benefits on treatments that you already received 30-180 days before you were actually approved for the grant program.

One of the grants that I was awarded was for $2,500.00, and I used $1,054.33 to cover chemo treatments that I received PRIOR to being approved for the grant and PRIOR to even applying to the program! See our foundation grant list below…

Each foundation will also provide you with a specific end date that you must use your grant benefits by or your benefits will expire and be unusable. Some foundations will allow you to reapply if you get to your benefit expiration date and you still need co-payment assistance.

If you are approved for a co-payment assistance grant the foundation will let you know your approved date, your grant award dollar amount, time period you have to use your co-payment assistance grant, and how many days you will be allowed to use the grant funds for retro services.

Read our page on Chemotherapy and drug grant overview (to Save you $$$) and after you are clear on how the grant process works go to our Foundation Grant List and start making some phone calls and see if you can put some money back in your pocket 🙂

Click on the compass below to check out our other free resources to help you be more comfortable during your cancer treatment:

The following products helped me during my cancer treatment:

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Why you should know the generic & brand name of each cancer drug you are taking

The grants are available according to the type of cancer you have (example: breast cancer, colon cancer, thyroid cancer, etc.) and also available according to the type of chemo cancer treatment drugs you are receiving for your treatment.

Each chemo drug usually has a brand name and a generic name. Once it has been decided which chemo drugs you will receive as part of your treatment, you need to be familiar with both the brand name and generic name for each drug.

Chemotherapy may be given with a curative intent (which almost always involves combinations of chemo drugs), so you may be receiving several different chemo drugs at one time that interact well together to combat the cancer cells. So make sure you talk to your doctor and get a complete list of ALL the chemo drugs you are receiving so that you can apply for assistance for each drug you are receiving.

Some grant foundations only list drugs by the brand name and some only list them by their generic name in their computer system, so it is really important to use both names when you are calling to apply for co-payment grants.

You can look up the brand name and generic name of drugs at this web site: www.rxlist.com

As soon as you know the brand name and generic name of each drug you are receiving for treatment, you should apply for a co-payment assistance grant through whichever foundations that you are eligible to apply to based on the drugs you are receiving and the type of cancer you have (example: breast cancer, colon cancer, thyroid cancer, etc.) The link to our Foundation grant list is below.

Some foundations only accept a specific number of new applications each month, and some only take new applications during the first few days of each month, so you need to start applying right away, because you may qualify to apply for a certain grant because they are accepting applications for the specific drugs you are receiving and for the specific type of cancer you have (example: breast cancer, colon cancer, thyroid cancer, etc.), however they may tell you that they have already met the limit of applications that they are accepting for those drugs this month, so you would have to wait until the next month. So that is why you want to start calling on the grants right away and make notes on each grant that you call on so that you can call back if necessary the next month.

The following are the cancer treatment drugs I was given, I also listed my out of pocket co-pay amount that I was billed for each drug for each of my six chemo treatments:

Neulasta Injection: $346.13 (my co-pay out of pocket amount)

Taxotere (generic name- Docetaxel): $694.02 (my co-pay out of pocket amount)

Adriamycin (generic name- Doxorubicin): $8.10 (my co-pay out of pocket amount)

Cytoxan (generic name- cyclophosphamide): $6.08 (my co-pay out of pocket amount)

Check out our chemotherapy and drug grant overview page to learn more

Also, check out our Foundation grant list page

Click on the compass below to check out our other free resources to help you be more comfortable during your cancer treatment:

The following products helped me during my cancer treatment:

(purchasing through our affiliate links, help support this site 🙂 )

Day one of Chemo

Image result for chemo room

About 9:45 am we headed over to the chemo room and got started. The nurses started with taking my temperature (which was fine), and my blood pressure (which was elevated, duh!!)…… I don’t know why they bother with that one 🙂

Then they inserted the IV, they found a good vein after only two tries.

They first started me on a saline drip, then started the first drug bag, I didn’t feel a thing. The next bag was a red solution from their fridge, at the time this bag started going in, my eyes started getting really tired and dry and my contacts got really uncomfortable. My nose started getting stuffy and I started sneezing a lot.

I called my husband who was out grabbing us lunch and asked him to run home and pick up my glasses so I could take my contacts out.

After the red bag they started another clear bag and soon after my husband returned I was all done!

There were 10 chairs in the chemo room and most of the time that I was there (about 3 hrs total), most of the chairs were full. Most with women, only two with men the entire time I was there, everyone was quite a bit older than me. Many women were in their 60’s-80’s. Very sad, at that point in your life to have to be doing chemo in your retirement, they should be off on a vacation!

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Everyone sits in a big room, very similar to a blood donation room at the blood bank. It is nice because you are close enough to your neighbors to chat and get some good advice and such.

Some people bring books, chat, nap, listen to music, or do paperwork. Bring a big water cup and some snacks.

Actress and photographer Kris Carr has documented her journey through several best selling books since finding out her liver was covered with cancerous tumors. Her cancer tips are candid and informative, yet very warm and real.

She documents her interactions with family, friends, and doctors through her journey. Kris Carr is a very “say it like it is” kind of gal so she is very easy to relate to, these are my top pick cancer tip books!

(purchasing through our affiliate links, help support this site 🙂 )

To help ease your burden as you go through cancer treatment we have a lot of resources available to help with out of pocket costs for hospital tests, chemotherapy cost, chemotherapy side effects, and radiation treatment costs.

Click the compass below to check out all the FREE Resources available on CancerButterfly.com to help you through your cancer treatment:

The MRI experience

Image result for mri machine

MRI (Magnetic Resonance imaging) is a test that uses a magnetic field and pulses of radio wave energy to make pictures of organs and structures inside the body.

An MRI may be used for many reasons. It can be used to find problems such as tumors, bleeding, injury, blood vessel diseases, or infections.

The way the MRI was explained to me is that is a very sensitive mammogram that will be looking at all the cell tissue in both breasts and in the chest walls.

You may be given a gown to wear and will need to remove all metal objects (such as hearing aids, dentures, jewelry, watches, and hair clips).

You need to lie very still inside the MRI magnet, so you may need medicine to help you relax if you become nervous in confined spaces if you are claustrophobic.

Inside the scanner you will hear a fan and feel air moving. You may also hear noises as the MRI scans are taken. You may be given earplugs or earphones to wear to reduce the noise.

The MRI test usually takes 30-60 minutes.

I am claustrophobic so I can’t say the MRI was a fun experience for me, but I survived and you will too. My MRI test took 45 mins and during the test I just kept trying to redirect my mind to other things and not focus on where I was.

Click here to check out all the FREE Resources available on CancerButterfly.com to help you through your cancer treatment

Save money on out of pocket radiation treatment copays

As you go through several weeks of radiation during your cancer treatment you will accumulate a lot of various individual bills. I had 7 weeks of daily radiation and it seems like the radiation department billed my insurance every few days.

The costs of radiation can REALLY add up! Usually your health insurance company will have negotiated the rates on these services with the radiation department, but you may still have quite a bit to pay out of pocket on your co-pays.

The amount I owed the radiation department for my out of pocket co-pay cost for all my radiation expenses was $1,448.89.

Thankfully, I learned how to apply for a discount on these costs and luckily was able to receive a 57% discount off of that amount, so then I only owed $619.43!

When you also have out of pocket co-pays and deductibles to pay for chemotherapy, MRI, mammograms, Pet scans, blood work, surgery, etc., all the out of pocket costs can really start to add up! So anywhere you can save money helps a lot! Thankfully, there is financial help for cancer patients!

There is financial assistance for cancer patients available and grants for cancer patients to help offset chemotherapy cost and other out of pocket copays and deductibles. I am a breast cancer survivor and I can show you how you can apply for discounts on YOUR cancer treatment related radiation costs, hospital bill co-pays, and chemotherapy treatment co-pays that will save you MONEY!