Cancer help!!??

[CPR09]

Okay this will be a long post and im hoping to hear from people with some experience.

My parents are both in their 60's and are small business owners that have no medical insurance. They also have no real savings to speak of. Their retirement plan has basically been to live off of social security and for my father to work contruction until he cant anymore.

So as you could probably guess by the thread title, my mother was diagnosed with CML leukemia last week. They should qualify for some financial assistance through the hospital for some of the medical bills and the medication company that she was perscribed gave her a 3 month supply of her medication. However, without insurance or medicare/medicaid her medication is off the charts in the range of 10-12k a month. This they obviously have no way of paying for. She has some appointments with a case worker with the oncologist office and the pharmacy to find out what her options are.

My question to you all is, as older peolple with no money and no insurance, how are they expected to pay for this life saving drug at that price? Or is she just kind of SOL as far as the medication goes?

[cwbow]

The case worker may know of grants she can get to pay for meds.

[gpena]

First off brother i am praying for your mother and family. Cancer sucks. My father has gone thru this twice and is currently in remission. The First time he basically ate thru his retirement plan. The second time I gave him half of my 401K, along with some donations and a couple benafits and fundraisers we made It thru. The sad part is he had his own paint business for 50+ years and now has nothing. My parents are 76 and 75 and in failing health. We just spend the most time we can with them and try and make memories with them and our kids. God bless brother if you need to talk feel free to send me a PM. KCA!!

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[Chapo]

Look in to the Live Strong foundation. It was started by Lance Armstrong. They provide financial assistance to cancer patients and their families.

[Brazos Hunter]

I cannot fathom going through this w/o insurance. That said, y’all are in our prayers! It is going to be a rough row to hoe even after she receives assistance. I’ve beat it once and am about to again so, I kind of know, cancer sux!!!


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[Bowtech Lefty]

They could try obtaining that medication or similar medication through a research study. Most oncology clinics have research departments that run clinical trials. Alot of them cover everything....meds, imaging studies, physician appointments, etc.

[waffles]

Prayers to you and your family

[gdawg]

Prayers for all

[catslayer]

Prayers... not sure how ppl do it with no insurence, we would be out om the street if we had too

[big_smith]

While I don't agree with it, I don't think insurance can deny you for a pre existing condition. Have them go get insurance. While it may be expensive, it has to be cheaper than paying the med bills. Sorry to hear you are going through this.

[txarrows]

Let’s put this situation in Gods hand because through him everything is possible. Second thing is, we are going to put your mom in the hands of Jesus and ask him to heal your mom. Lord we come before you and ask that you put our brother’s mom in your healing hands we ask that you remove any cancer from her body in Jesus name.
Amen

[Texastaxi]

First, I'll offer my prayers for your family.

Second, do you know what kind of medicine she is taking?
My dad took some chemo pills that were in that price range; my step-mom was able to find discounts, from the drug company, where they only paid about $1,200 a month. I know it doesn't solve the entire problem, but it could be a big help.

Let me know if you would like me to get more information from my step-mom on how she found the discounts.

[dcbrown]

Prayers up

[pervis]

Can u get the meds south of the border? Or mail order from Canada?

[CPR09]

Thank you all so much for the prayers and the ideas. She had an appointment this morning with her oncologist and she was given another months worth of the meds because they were about to expire, so that makes a total of 4 months worth of meds at this point that have been given to her. She is starting her meds tomorrow, starting with a drug called Tasigna and then possibly switching to Gleevec. They are supposed to pick up another application for financial assistance today, hopefully they will be approved for at least a little help. That and hopefully they can get approved for insurance. We'll see what this all brings about.