‘I would wake up ... wondering how I’m going to pay my rent’
Last July, as she climbed out of bed one morning, Diane Marshall decided to give herself a break — and skip her gym workout.
It meant she had more leisure time before starting her job taking complaints from angry telecom company subscribers. She lingered over coffee and took her time in the shower, where she made a terrible discovery: a large lump on her right breast.
“The first thing I thought was, ‘Oh God, I really don’t need this drama in my life,’ ” recalls Marshall, a 59-year-old grandmother of four who lives alone in a Cornwall apartment.
Subsequent events moved quickly. She was diagnosed with breast cancer, underwent immediate surgery, then radiation at The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre.
She quit her high-stress job and went on employment insurance since she didn’t have disability coverage.
At the time, she wasn’t sure she would live to the end of her 16 weeks of benefits. Yet by late November, she was still undergoing treatment — and running out of money. She put groceries and medication on a credit card; she asked the bank to defer payment on a car loan; she ate whatever was on sale.
“I thought I was going to go bankrupt: I didn’t have any disability insurance, nothing ... I would wake up in the middle of the night, wondering how I’m going to pay my rent.”
At The Ottawa Hospital, a nurse put her in touch with the hospital’s psychosocial oncology program, established in 2008 to help patients like Marshall cope with the stress of a cancer diagnosis — and the financial challenges that can come with it. The program includes social workers, psychiatrists, a physiotherapist, speech pathologist and dietitian.
Diane Manii, clinical manager of the program, says it helps patients “live as well as possible.”
“The research is clear: if you can manage better, if you can cope better, you do better.”
One study found that poorlyadjusted patients required up to 130 per cent more medical services.
Some people can be overwhelmed by the red tape involved in accessing financial help, Manii says, particularly when faced with the stress of a cancer diagnosis. Hospital social workers help clients apply for disability benefits, drug cards and connect with community resources.
Marshall met with one of the program’s social workers, who applied on her behalf for emergency funding.
The Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Foundation came through with $700 before Christmas. Another foundation donated $500.
“It was scary: the landlord was calling for my rent,” Marshall says. “I had never been late on a payment before.”
She shared her stress and fear with her hospital social worker. “You cry a lot about different things,” she says. “It sounds strange but I felt like I didn’t fit into society anymore.”
Marshall has finished her treatment and hopes to return to work later this year once tests determine if she’s cancer free.
She’s immensely grateful for the help she received from the hospital’s psychosocial oncology program.
“I didn’t know where else to turn,” she says.