600,000 people a year die from cancer in it’s various forms. It does not care about your family, your socioeconomic status; or how much money you have. It affects everyone from young kids and babies, to the elderly.
This is our story.
Estimated national expenditures for cancer care in the United States in 2020 were $208.9 billion. In future years, costs are likely to increase as the population ages and more people have cancer. Costs are also likely to increase as new, and often more expensive, treatments are adopted as standards of care.
We (my wife and I) would be considered middle-class folks. We try to live within our means, but that has changed. We received our diagnosis today, that my wife has cancer. It is extremely hard to process this, even with a significant amount of time beforehand to prepare.
We do not know how much time she has left currently (this blog entry is being written the night before our appointment with the oncologist), and will be updated at some point tomorrow, October 7th with that information.
“I’m stronger than cancer. I’ve been through hell and back, and I’m still here.”
Comments
One response to “The Cancer Problem”
Next year will be 20 years since I lost my dad to cancer. He made it the 5 years after his first diagnosis. Looking back, I wish I would have spent more time listening to stories and recording him for posterity.
About a year after he passed, I found a recording of him on an old answering machine tape. I recorded it on my computer and I still have that cassette somewhere. Although we have lots of pictures, there’s something powerful about hearing the voice
Nowadays have wonderful video cameras in our pockets that make it so much easier to preserve those memories for future generations. There will be at least one future grandchild genealogist/historian that will find the videos, pictures and stories we save now to be an invaluable treasure.