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Lisa___'s avatar
Lisa___
Member
6 years ago

Metastatic Mess: Self employed, no super, life or income protection, expired health insurance

Firstly, I hope everyone is feeling the best they can, and keeping positive... or doing whatever works for you if you're sick of people always saying "be positive"  :)

I feel really silly (and irresponsible) finding myself in this situation of being self-employed, with no super, life/income protection, and to top it off...expired health insurance.

My Diagnosis:
Age 40 - Breast cancer E+ Her 2-, 3 small children, chemo, radiotherapy, mastectomy, reconstruction.
Age 51 - Metastatic breast cancer (bones), radiotherapy, letrozole (estrogen blocker), kisqali (tablets that target cancer cells), Xgeva injection every 4 weeks, slow release pain killers.

We live on the Central Queensland coast and operate a small tourism business.  We moved here from Brisbane after my first diagnosis. I have spoken with our Bank and they will only delay mortgage payments for a few months which is of little help. The cost of treatments, medications loans and general "living" is unmanageable and I'm now maxing out credit cards. We don't eat out, travel, buy new things etc. There is no breast care nurse here. Does anyone have any advice regarding: claiming centrelink disability as a self-employed person? claiming old super from when I was an employee? robbing banks? sorry... disregard that last comment.

Thanks in advance,
Silly Sausage.





centrelink
disability
financial-pressures
insurance
metastatic-breast-cancer
  • Sister's avatar
    Sister
    Member
    6 years ago
    You're not silly at all - pretty much doing what people our age are doing all over the place.  We don't expect a diagnosis like this and no-one understands the cost of cancer until they're in it.  Everyone just assumes that it's taken care of.  I do hope that you can access some financial assistance.  If you haven't spoken to your medical team about your financial situation, please do so as they will often come to the party where possible.  
  • Deebs's avatar
    Deebs
    Member
    6 years ago
    Contact cancer council 131120 they provide legal and financial advice and may be able to connect you with a financial counsellor who can provide free, confidentiality advice...good luck