Louise's Breast Cancer Medical Fund

Dear Family, Friends, Colleagues, and Friends I have not met yet,

I'm Louise Just in San Jose, CA. Some of you already know that I was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer in August. My cancer was discovered by an annual mammogram screening. This has happened at a very challenging time in my life.

Last year, I was laid off from my job as an Executive Assistant at Yahoo. The top of the crop medical insurance I had also went away with that job as well. My choice was to either continue with Cobra at $1,100 per month, or join Covered California (Affordable Care Act, aka Obama Care) at an 85% less cost per month. My insurance was working fine, as I only needed it for routine stuff, which was just a low copay upon visit. When the mammogram came back as "suspicious", it required me to utilize the insurance above and beyond routine.

Most of my extra appointments, screenings, biopsy, and consultations have been "in-network", however some were not, and it was unavoidable. I was told I have not yet met this year's deductible, which is $5,200. I was also told that my cancer follow up appointments for 2016 will also require a busy schedule, and again at the start of the year it will be another $5,200. Once I am able to hit my deductible, it pays out at 100%.

What many of you don't know, is that once laid off from Yahoo, I took a long look at my career path, and decided to make a change. I decided to go back to school to become an Esthetician. This occupation choice has made me very excited, and I feel my talents are better used to help people hands-on rather than behind a desk. I'm actually more than halfway to graduating, but my breast cancer diagnosis has put me on the sidelines for a semester. After summer school, I went to work full time as a temp, as I had been expecting to return to school. I'm currently working as a temp, but as you know when taking on a contracting job, there's less pay, and no benefits.

Needless to say, it is near to impossible for me to pay for my breast cancer treatment on my own. I'm kindly asking for your much needed help. The bills are starting to flood in already from August, and I have already missed so much work going to appointments. When you work temp, you do not get paid sick time off, so if I'm not there, I don't get paid. I will need to be taking much, much more time off as well coming up here soon. It's also going to require heavy use of my car going back and forth to radiation, work, back to radiation, and then home. Plus, as you may know, I'm my mom's primary caregiver on top of everything.

I would really, really appreciate anything you can contribute. Even if you reach out and check in, and say "hey, how are you doing". My health outlook is very promising. I have an awesome cancer team that has my back (and front). A heartfelt Thank You in advance.

Thank you once again so very much,

Louise Just