Financial struggles?

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Wife of kidney cancer fighter
Wife of kidney cancer fighter Member Posts: 41
edited April 2017 in Kidney Cancer #1

do any of you suffer the hit of financial struggle? My husband and I run a small roofing company and he does the roofing and I do the office work! We usually work

all spring summer and fall to have a little money put aside to go through ontarios neverending winter! The cancer diagnosis was a huge hit and now not being able to work is a total disaster! I am trying to do everything to keep our clientele but people don't want to wait until the middle of July! I was wondering if any of you had success with a go fund me?

i started one but not sure if people will think we are crazy?

 

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  • BoondockSaint
    BoondockSaint Member Posts: 242 Member
    edited April 2017 #2
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    It is definitely a strain,

    It is definitely a strain, especially when you are a family run and owned busines. My wife owns a small business as well but her few employees really stepped up and took care of things in her absence. I work in a completly different field so we both were not down at the same time and even then we are seeing the strain of the added drain on the bank account paying deductibles and such.

    The gofundme account can't hurt. I hate that you guys as well as others have to go thru this. Stay strong and keep your head up. 

    big hugs to you guys.

  • Wife of kidney cancer fighter
    Wife of kidney cancer fighter Member Posts: 41
    edited April 2017 #3
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    BoondockSaint said:

    It is definitely a strain,

    It is definitely a strain, especially when you are a family run and owned busines. My wife owns a small business as well but her few employees really stepped up and took care of things in her absence. I work in a completly different field so we both were not down at the same time and even then we are seeing the strain of the added drain on the bank account paying deductibles and such.

    The gofundme account can't hurt. I hate that you guys as well as others have to go thru this. Stay strong and keep your head up. 

    big hugs to you guys.

    It hit us especially hard as

    It hit us especially hard as the one person that we treated like family, our one employee that knows the work left right after my husband was diagnosed! i can't tell you how hard life has been! 3 kids to feed! I am so so thankful to have my husband with me and watch him slowlybget better but I am not sure if we are going to

    lose everything that we worked so hard to build! 

  • Sslee723
    Sslee723 Member Posts: 54
    edited April 2017 #4
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    I totally understand

    I totally see where you are coming from, my family too has been struggling since I had my surgery in January to remove kidney and was then diagnosed in march with stage 4 rcc and had to start chemo.  I haven't worked since end of December.  I was the main bread winner in family , my spouse does work but his job is part time , keeps it because insurance he has is priceless!! Thankfully we live in my moms house so their is no mortgage to pay but their are bills, lots of them.  And to add to this my youngest child is graduating college in a few weeks where I've had to also had to help support her too.  Disability doesn't pay well at all!!!   I don't know how many times I have thought about starting a go fund me, but I'm reluctant to because I don't want anyone knowing my business but it's getting really difficult, I get it, I understand what your going through.. 

  • lobbyist0724
    lobbyist0724 Member Posts: 515 Member
    #5
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    Wife of kidney cancer fighter said:

    It hit us especially hard as

    It hit us especially hard as the one person that we treated like family, our one employee that knows the work left right after my husband was diagnosed! i can't tell you how hard life has been! 3 kids to feed! I am so so thankful to have my husband with me and watch him slowlybget better but I am not sure if we are going to

    lose everything that we worked so hard to build! 

    Since you are in Ontario, did

    Since you are in Ontario, did you purchase disability insurance, most contractors have that in place. Also, he can apply for Employment Insurance (EI) which should cover some of the expenses for the next 6 to 10 months.

    All the best. Carmen

  • Abunai
    Abunai Member Posts: 173 Member
    #6
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    This is a scary situation!

    I, luckily, have insurance through my employer. However, I've often thought about how it would be (will be) without insurance.

    How have others on this site handled it?

    I can't keep working forever. I have stage 4 RCC and am physically disabled, because of a spinal tumor, to the point where I have to work from home. I'm also lucky my employer allows me to do that. But I won't be able to do that forever.

    Having cancer is a full time job.

    There are weekly appointments, phone calls, side effects, worry, etc. Once I'm no longer able to work (sole breadwinner) where do I go? I know there's COBRA, but how do I pay for that without an income?

    I wish I had answers for you guys, but I don't. I'm hoping someone else on this board does.

    A Go-Fund-Me page couldn't hurt, but maybe you should do some research to find the qualities and phrasing that tend to work on a Go-Fund-Me page.

  • stub1969
    stub1969 Member Posts: 966 Member
    #7
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    Disability

    Let's see if Dutch chimes in on this one.  I recall a post some time ago where this topic came up.  For some reason I remember him saying that stage 4 RCC is a fast track to disabilty insurance. 

    Stub

  • foxhd
    foxhd Member Posts: 3,181 Member
    #8
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    I believe

    stage 4 automatically qualifies for SS disability. I contacted the local office 6 months after dx. They arranged a telephone interview with me. Within 2 weeks they deposited money into my account. It was that easy.

  • Dutch1
    Dutch1 Member Posts: 152
    #9
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    Stage 4 and social security disability payments

    Yes, stage 4 kidney cancer is an automatic qualifier for receiving disability payments from social security ... after a six-month waiting period (I recall it being 6 months) from the date of discovery/surgery.  Once the social security rep found out that my application related to stage 4 kidney cancer, she was very anxious to help.  She was the most helpful federal employee that I've ever interacted with.

    The disability amount, for me, was my normal social security benefit that I would have received had I been of qualifying age.  I was 63 or 64 at the time.  The situation worked out fine for me.  I am not sure how the numbers would look like for a younger person who isn't through his or her primary working years.

    Best wishes for you.

     

    Dutch

  • icemantoo
    icemantoo Member Posts: 3,361 Member
    #10
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    SSD

    Wife lives in Canada which I am sure has their own disability system which is not our SSD. Hope it is as good or better than ours.

     

     

    Icemantoo

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