Fundraising for Cancer Costs

What are the 4 words that start with C when a cancer diagnosis hits? Concern, Cure, some Cash to handle expenses, and Connection to be close to people and activities that really matter. Today we focus on a single crucial one: fundraising for cancer costs. A Loan Against Your Life Insurance Policy: One Way If you’re reading this blog on our site, you know we provide one key solution to this problem: loans against life insurance policies to give patients the money they need, for whatever purpose they need it for. And we’re more than happy to walk you through the steps. Crowdfunding: A New Horizon Another important source is crowdfunding. Everyone has heard of Kickstarter, but its focus is on funding people who create things, not those who need to pay medical bills, however dire the need. Fortunately, there is GiveForward.com that is specifically focused on helping cancer patients raise money. There are other sites like Rallyhero.com that will let you do this, but as far was we could find, Giveforward is the only one dedicated to fundraising for medical and related expenses. (These include travel expenses and, interestingly, bucket lists associated with terminal illnesses.) And it works a lot like Kickstarter—there are a raft of tips and ideas for how to create a fundraiser, a list of dos and don’ts and much more. Of particular interest is the cost—how much GiveForward takes in overhead. Like other crowdfunding sites they have to pay credit card exchange fees and other expenses. Giveforward takes 7.9%, in the range of what these sites charge. But in an intriguing twist, they ask the...

Help for Cancer Patients: Out-Organizing Cancer

As Anton Chekov once put it, anyone can survive a crisis; it’s the day to day living that wears you down. And cancer patients need help to prevent the day to day from wearing you down as well as the heroic efforts to survive the crisis. During this time, help for cancer patients comes in many different forms. We’ve looked at how to manage your medical bills in a couple of previous blogs. What about the rest of your life? Fortunately, there are organizations that provide communication tools, meal scheduling, planners and other services for patients that could use a little help. Communicating with Friends and Family One of the most popular organizations, Caringbridge.org, offers a journal format for those battling cancer to post, with a comment forum. It offers the obvious convenience of a central place for information, alleviating the need to tell loved ones news again and again. As some have attested, it also provides a unique writing experience, and several people comment that they can share things that would otherwise be hard to tell people face to face. Mylifeline.org and CarePages.com offer variations on the same idea, a place to share news, thoughts and feelings. A somewhat different communication site is Navigatingcancer.com with a greater focus on cancer resources. Understanding and Planning Cancerplanning101.org offers planners, as you might expect, but it also offers a wealth of information on defining cancer terms, things to ask your doctor, and many other topics. Meal and Medication Scheduling Made Easy Lotsahelpinghands.com is an interesting spin on coordinating care, meals and lots of other things. Patients and relatives use it as...

A Different Kind of Cancer Innovation: Part II of Organizing Medical Bills

When someone mentions innovation in cancer, almost everyone thinks, “cure,” or “treatment.” But there are many other innovations that have to do with cancer’s impact, from innovations in care giving to financial help for cancer patients such as loans against life insurance policies. Here’s one area you’ll probably agree is ripe for innovation: organizing your medical bills. Are You Cut Out for Managing Medical Bills? In our previous post we looked at ways to get organized. But let’s cut to the chase: are you personally cut out for this? Do you teeter between scolding yourself for not being more organized, on the one hand, and on the other just wishing you could get that medical bill monkey off your back? Do you find yourself wishing you could focus on things that are more important, like living life to the fullest? Maybe you’ve decided that a central lesson of cancer is that, once and for all, you’re going to become the most organized person on the planet. If that works for you—great. But we think that those of us saddled with these bills shouldn’t beat ourselves up for failing to be an expert in medical bill management. (This includes reviewing, tracking, contesting and paying huge numbers of bills.) Sure, you’ve probably heard a gazillion solutions from friends and relatives: make lists, use online tools, keep a calendar, etc., etc., etc. The stack of suggestions might be overwhelming. A Solution For You Here’s an idea. One big reaction to a cancer diagnosis for a loved one is a reflexive desire to help. Yet many people just can’t do the care giving...