Help Ginny Heal After Cancer and Losing Mum

Hi, I’m Ginny, and this is the most vulnerable thing I’ve done. But I’m still healing, and I need a little support to move forward.

In July 2022, my mama and I both caught Covid. A few days in, I noticed a strange hot and pulling pain in my right breast. By the time I finished quarantine on Day 9, my breast had changed completely.

I was diagnosed with aggressive stage 2 breast cancer at 34 — with multiple tumours — and later confirmed BRCA2 positive. That same week, ma’s health started crashing. She was a 15-year stage 4 breast cancer survivor. A biopsy led to a medical error — her lung was punctured. She was rushed into ICU.

While I was undergoing my second round of chemotherapy, I sat by her bedside, holding her hand, hoping she’d wake up.

She never did.

I buried my mother while fighting for my life.

To make things harder, ma had no insurance. Her two-week ICU stay left our family with a $300,000 hospital bill — a weight my brother is still trying to carry today. While grieving and fighting to survive, we were also left with a mountain of debt. 

The Treatment That Broke Me

I followed every step my doctors recommended to survive: 8 rounds of chemo, a double mastectomy, reconstruction, and 15 rounds of radiation. It left me in medically induced menopause. I lost mobility in my legs and had to relearn how to walk. My hands blistered, my feet peeled, and my head pounded from daily migraines.

Still, I kept going.

But cancer doesn’t just take your health — it changes everything. I quietly lost my job due to discrimination. The income I relied on disappeared. I've been trying to find work since, but it hasn’t been easy.

Uncovered Bills & Insurance Denials

I always believed my insurance would protect me. But they denied half of my mastectomy claim — saying the removal of my healthy breast was “cosmetic,” even though it was medically necessary for my survival. My doctors disagreed. They appealed on my behalf. It was still rejected. A second surgery in 2024 was also only partially covered.

Today, I owe over $60,000 in medical bills — and I’ve started a long-term repayment plan just to avoid legal action. I don’t know how I’ll manage future costs.

What many people don’t realise is that cancer is not just a medical crisis — it’s a financial one. Even after active treatment ends, recovery costs continue to pile up: medications, scans, hormone therapy, pain management, and physical therapy. Cancer takes your health, but it also takes your savings — and no one really talks about how expensive it is just to survive.

Because of my BRCA2 gene, I’ll also need to remove my ovaries in my 40s — another major operation with more emotional and physical impact ahead, and more costs I’m trying to prepare for.

Rebuilding

I’m still healing. I’m still grieving. And I’m still trying.

My husband and I dream of starting a family someday — likely through surrogacy, since cancer took that option from us too.

This is the most vulnerable thing I’ve ever done: asking for help.

But if you’re reading this, and can support in any way — by donating, or sharing — it would mean the world to me.

Every act of kindness helps lift a bit of the weight I carry — not just financially, but emotionally too.

Thank you for being here.

With all my heart,

Ginny