Another Bump in the Road

Yesterday morning, I was awakened by phone call from my husband. He told me had received a layoff notice. He has until Friday to make a big decision on whether to take the severance package or stay employed for 60 more days and try to find a job within the company. If he chooses the later, he will lose the severance package. Could they have worse timing?

We spent most of yesterday getting his resume out and networking with everyone we knew to try to start finding him another job. I made some phone calls to find out what the insurance situation would be. The bad thing about cancer is that if your insurance coverage lapses at all, insurance companies will consider it a pre-existing condition and not cover any future treatments. I really was scared that we would be unable to afford COBRA and we would not be able to afford to treat my cancer. However, after I calmed down a little and made a few phone calls, I was happy to find that there are some resources in place to assist with this situation.

I called the American Cancer Society and asked for resources to assist with this issue. They have an entire department dedicated to providing information to people in this exact situation. What a great organization they are! They are an endless source of information and hope. If you ever want to donate money to a charity, this is one to keep in mind.

I spoke to a nice lady named Molly there, and she informed me that there is a part of the federal stimulus package that will subsidize 65% of the cost of COBRA for someone who is laid off for up to 9 months. I also found out, that if you still can't afford the cost of COBRA, there is medacaid coverage for breast and ovarian cancer. This means either way I can still continue my cancer treatment. The information they provided reduced this from a crisis to a bump in the road.

We still need to help Jesse find a job. If anyone has any leads, PLEASE let us know. He has a strong background in the Network Administration and Information Systems field. We are hoping to find something here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area if possible. If you know someone who you could send a copy of his resume to, email me and I'll send you a copy.