(More) Help with Medical Bills related to Cancer

Hello!

My name is Syd, though you may know me by other aliases because of my art. In December 2018 I was diagnosed with stage 3 invasive ductal carcinoma, more commonly known as stage 3 breast cancer, and went through chemo & radiation in 2019. I'm doing well in terms of recovering from that, overall! I use he/him pronouns.

I'm asking for some help with my medical debt.

The cancer requires a lot of follow-up visits and a lot of specialist doctors, including oncologists. It was estrogen receptor positive cancer (meaning estrogen caused it to grow) so I needed surgery to remove the ovaries and later a second surgery to remove my uterus because of a family risk of uterine cancer & medication complications. I needed surgery to remove the medical port I had in order to do chemotherapy infusions. The cancer also rendered me immuno-compromised so that when I inevitably caught covid, I needed the experimental monoclonal antibody treatment.

With all this said, being American, I've been at the mercy of insurance companies. Insurance changed a few times via my spouse's employer as well. Some of the coverage had a really high deductible and really high copays for all those specialist doctors, surgeries and treatments. I am also dependent on others for rides, so paying to get rideshares to and from all these doctors adds up as well.

Even as I write this, I've been putting off making an appointment with endocrinology because the combined cost of a "specialist" copay and the cost of a rideshare to and from the office is more than I can afford. Being frequently sick, fatigued, and in recovery has caused me to fall behind in my primary work (art commissions) and furthered my money troubles. Hence why I'm in need of help and unable to dig my way out of this hole cancer put me in.

I did a previous GFM for this, which was very successful! But the medical insurance processes at a slow crawl, and more debt accumulated on my account over time. I've got a payment plan with the hospital group set up, but it's still a big monthly expense I'd like to be rid of. In the best case scenario where I can stick to the payment plan every single month, it will still take until December 2027 to clear without outside help. I'd really just like to pay it off and not have to nickle & dime my way along for long-term cancer treatment & complications, yknow?

If this GFM fails to reach its goal, I'll still put what I get towards paying down my debt. I really hope it hits the goal though!

I've attached as many receipts of the offending medical bills on my account as I can think of, but please feel free to ask me for any details if you've got questions.

Thank you to everyone who donated to my prior GFM, and thank you to anyone who donates or boosts this one as well! There's no way out but forward, and I appreciate your sticking by my side. <3