It goes without saying that the effects of the pandemic last year has had an effect on all of our finances. Furlough and unemployment has meant we have had many on Universal Credit or getting screwed over by the self-employment scheme. When Covid hit, as a self-employed Personal Trainer, the shutting of gyms and inability to train people outdoors after my spinal op had me in a bit of a sticky situation. But then July came, cancer came and I got a lovely insight into how bloody expensive living with cancer can be!

Something people may not often reflect on, is how much a cancer patient actually has to spend. Yes we get our prescriptions free, whoopie, but the amount of products needed for self-care to ensure your skin doesn’t have a melt down, your nails don’t turn black, your scalp doesn’t become sore during chemo for example, ramps up. To add to this, travel costs to and from the hospital every week comes to a shocking total sum at the end of the month.

To give you a little insight into how much I had to purchase since being diagnosed with cancer I’ve listed a few…

• Non-perfumed body moisturiser

• New face creams

• Eye lash conditioner

• Hair masks

• Hair oils

• Nail creams

• Specifically designed nail polishes (to stop discolouration during chemo)

• Silk pillow case

• Bandanas

• New bedding for hot flushes

• Supplements

• Activities to busy the mind such as puzzles and canvas’ to paint

• Sleep story apps

• Joint and muscle balms

• Acupuncture mat

• Ginger biscuits (A LOT OF THEM!)

This is just to name a few of the things I had to purchase and you may think they’re cheap for cancer patients but they are absolutely not! Take wigs for example. You can get wigs on the NHS but they seem to think we want to look like we’re going to a party dressed as George Micheal in Wham. As much of a legend as that man was, I did not want to spend my days looking like I should be singing Wake Me Up Before You Go-go all damn day. So, I found a place that did wigs specifically for chemotherapy patients only. They take a sample of your own hair and created a wig that matched your own that you could have fitted to your scalp for the whole of treatment so you never had to see yourself with hair loss. I thought amazing! Incredible! This has given me hope and calmed my anxiety towards hair loss…until I was quoted the price.

“The starting price is £14,000 and goes up to the limit of £34,000”

…

£34,000. THIRTY FOUR THOUSAND POUNDS?! For not only a wig, but a wig they have designed just for chemotherapy patients…are you taking the piss? Do you think as a cancer patient, regardless of the pandemic, I have £34,000 to just make it rain on your table in exchange for a wig? Even searching around for cheaper options, to have it match my curly hair, I was looking at £2000-£4000. I didn’t want to look different with a straight haired wig but curly hair wigs double the price!

I, very gratefully, had my legends of colleagues and friends come together and do a fundraiser before I started treatment and there are no words to explain how much this helped. But, equally its hard accepting that you need that financial help when you’ve been making money since the age of 15 and had a successful career.

Finance isn’t something you may first think of when imaging someone living with cancer, but it’s one of the biggest problems there is. However, If you are going through treatment and are struggling, there are services to help advise you. The finance hotlines at Maggie’s centres and Macmillian are superb and there are benefit schemes and grants that you may be eligible for to take some of the stress away that they can help you arrange.