Help Me Make A Change

One thing I decided not to blog about during cancer was the stress of finances while going through cancer. It felt too much like airing my dirty laundry. But it was a huge stress for me during and after cancer. It’s still stressful. The reason it was so stressful is:

a. The medical bills are quite large with cancer…..even if you do have insurance. We have met our deductible every year since cancer.

b. I wasn’t planning on getting cancer in my 30′s with three small children, house payment, car payment and the dreaded student loans.

It was the student loans that gave me the biggest anxiety. Only months in to my treatment between barfing in a toilet because of chemo and trying to make myself look alive enough to drive down to pick up my children from school, I was making phone calls trying to get our loan company to allow us to defer for a few years. When they wouldn’t because Jeremy and I were consigned and he wasn’t sick and made just enough money, I called something called the Ombudsman’s Office in Washington D.C. set up to help people work out issues with their student loans. But they couldn’t help either.

So we went in to default. Not without many tears. And what do you think the government did to a woman with Inflammatory Breast Cancer and another aggressive tumor in the other breast the size of a softball? They added an extra $20,000.00 in fees to our bill! Yes, you read right.

I’m not asking you to sign this petition below because I think I should get out of paying my loans. But I do think it’s insanely crazy that when people are seriously ill they can’t get automatic deferment on student loans or risk fees that drown them!

I’ve known other women with breast cancer who have even had recurrence and still were forced in to default because they couldn’t pay.

A little grace…..pulllllleeeeaaaassseee!

http://www.change.org/petitions/new-york-state-higher-education-allow-deferrment-for-people-going-through-cancer

Sign my petition to help those going through cancer NOT have to worry about student loans till they are better!