Cancer and job loss due to Covid-19

*Update*  When I first wrote up this campaign I was sick with worry and did it on my phone and there were lots of typos and formatting errors.  I have fixed the errors, and am happy to update that my daughter's surgery yesterday was very long, but successful and she is now recovering in the hospital.  She still has a long road of surgeries and treatments ahead, but it is such a relief that the first part went well.  I wanted to thank you all for your prayers and generosity! 

This is very personal to me. My daughter Christine was recently diagnosed with cancer and is facing a long road of major surgeries, chemo and radiation. The very same week of her diagnosis she was given two weeks’ notice that she was being excessed from her job. She worked for a company that supplied food to restaurants and due to Covid, they lost a lot of business and were forced to let people go.

Even though she had her cancer diagnosis before being let go from her job, she hadn’t become disabled by that point, so she is ineligible for short term Disability payments from NY State.

She applied for unemployment, and just 2 weeks later was informed that she had to attend a virtual job training program online, which they had scheduled for right after her major cancer surgery. When she called to tell them she couldn’t attend the program on that date because she was having surgery, they told her that she cannot collect unemployment benefits if she is not ready, willing and able to work, so because she was honest with them, they marked her file and she is losing unemployment benefits until she heals from her surgery!

My heart breaks for my daughter, who has had more blows of misfortune in the last several years than many have had in a lifetime. She is a single Mom of two who worked very hard to be able to buy her own home 5 years ago. It was an old fixer-upper that needed major renovations, but it was in the same school district her kids were attending, and was what she could afford.  Before going into contract on the house, she was approved for a grant through New York State that would pay for the essential improvements the house needed in order to be livable (roof, windows, siding, etc).

Unbelievably, just a few weeks before closing the State informed her that there was a shortage in their budget and they did not have the money they had promised her for the grant!  They told her the money would be available in several more months, but there was a loophole that didn’t allow them to grant the money after the closing , it had to be done AT the closing. The owners were unwilling to wait for several months, so she was forced to give up the grant and proceed with the closing or lose her down payment.   

From that time forward money was a struggle, because she had to use credit to do the essential repairs on her house. She worked two jobs to try to keep up with the bills, but was still coming up short each month. Then, just two years after getting the house, she was excessed from her full time corporate job.  After months of interviews and stress she managed to land a decent new job, which as mentioned earlier, she was also excessed from after working there for less than 3 years.

Christine's first surgery is this week, and although she is strong in spirit and ready to fight this cancer, having the financial stress hanging over her is so difficult. She has already resigned to the fact that she will probably have to sell her house, which she put so much blood, sweat and tears into fixing up, and will have to live with family until she is well enough to get another job and rent a place of her own.  In the meantime, the medical bills have already started piling up. Though she was able to get Medicaid from the State after losing her job, she had a $5,000 deductible on her old plan that she has to pay off.

No one should have to worry about moving in the middle of cancer treatments!  My daughter did everything right, she worked hard to provide for herself and her family, but life keeps knocking her down: A bungled grant from the State, two job losses in 3 years and now cancer!  She is such a loving, generous and kind person and doesn’t deserve this. It’s so unfair, but she rarely complains.  She never asks others for anything, and in fact she did not want me to create this Go Fund Me for her!  She’s humble and embarrassed, and never wants to impose on anybody.  But I felt I had to do this for her, because even though we as her family are doing everything we can to help her, we are limited in our own finances.

The hardest part of watching your child go through these kind of hardships is feeling helpless to take away their pain. And alleviating some of the financial stress is something that WILL help, so, although, like my daughter, I hate to ask for help, this is something I need to do for her.

Christine needs all her strength to fight the cancer that has invaded her body, and our prayers are first and foremost that she fully beats this disease. Any financial assistance would be so greatly appreciated, and would help ease her mind so she can focus on getting well instead of how she is going to pay her bills. Any amount helps.

Thank you so much for your prayers and generosity!