So all while the chemo treatments role on and the bills rack up, my amazing sister in law created a GoFundMe to support my husband and I with all these medical bills that were about to be rolling in. I was very against the idea of fundraising at all at the very start of this. I have always worked for everything that I have and the free handout was something I couldn’t wrap my head around. However, after paying the $7,000 to SRM for the egg retrieval and not even starting chemotherapy yet, I was overwhelmed. My husband and I had recently bought 10 acres and built a shop. We were living in a 5th wheel trailer inside the shop while we saved up money to build a house. Then I got diagnosed… how in the hell are we supposed to build a house when I am about to have thousands of dollars in medical bills?
This was hard for me, but I accepted the help because I knew we needed it. My closest family and friends told me, “so many people want to help you and don’t know how, this is a way people can show their support.” And I was not only amazed by the amount of people who donated but humbled by how much we raised in such a short amount of time. Close friends, family and people I have never even met were donating. Humbling. I have never been so grateful.
So to give you an idea of how much cancer treatment costs, these are the rough estimates:
Egg retrieval: $7,000
Max out of pocket for 2022: $6,200
Max out of pocket for 2023: $6,200
Medications not covered by insurance: $2,000
Total: $21,400
GoFundMe raised over $21,000 nearly covering all of it.
Obviously this is a lifelong battle of continued screens and eventually completing the second half of the IVF process costing more later on, however it was some serious relief knowing we will still be able to build a house in the near future.
So I am going to take a minute to say THANK YOU to anyone who donated and a huge thank you to Jamie, my sister in law, the most selfless person I have ever met, that was kind enough to go above and beyond to help me through this crazy time.
Mandafit 