After a seemingly innocent trip to the audiologist for hearing loss, one man was left facing a life changing brain tumour diagnosis. On top of this life-changing news, Stuart Grant soon discovered the cancer treatment would cost him more than he expected - an extra burden at an unwelcome time.
From daily transport to the hospital to potential IVF treatment, Stuart Grant has found himself struggling to cover the hidden cost of cancer.
In January 2019, the now 49-year-old was sent for an MRI which picked up a brain tumour on the right side of his brain - remarkably unrelated to the hearing loss which had sparked the scan. Stuart, from Norfolk, was sent for a craniotomy five months later followed by just under 12 months of intensive radiotherapy and then chemotherapy.
From the moment he was diagnosed Stuart's life became about balancing his family, his treatment and his money.
After his diagnosis, the dad-of-one continued to work full time for five months until his treatment began as his wife, Emma, was on maternity leave.
As a brain cancer patient, Stuart's his driving licence was immediately revoked and he couldn't even drive home from his diagnosis appointment - which meant getting daily taxis to work which cost £50 each way.
Speaking to the Mirror, he said: "I didn't have any kind of critical illness cover or life insurance or anything. We got absolutely no funding or benefits - nothing. Everything we had, we had to sort of scrabble together to keep going.
"The floor [has] sort of gone from under you, you've got no money coming in and you just have to do the best you can - especially with a little one. It was tough," he recalled.
Eventually, the cancer meant Stuart had to take a step back from work and start his gruelling treatment.
With their income down to just Emma's maternity pay, money was tight. Stuart, who is self employed, said: "I don't really know how we got through it - I suppose we had other things to think about. We weren't ever hand to mouth but we were hard up for a while.
"We had to rely on whatever little bits of savings we had and I had to do as much work as I could and hope the prices of things didn't go up. Had it been now, it would have been doubly hard."
Surprise costs due to his treatment
Although the family struggled, Stuart felt "blessed in a sense" to fall ill when he did, before prices skyrocketed. There were lots of surprising costs, on top of taxis to and from the hospital, that the dad-of-one had not been prepared for such as new clothes and heating bills.
Stuart ended up having to buy a whole new wardrobe so he could be comfortable as the treatment made him lose weight rapidly, only to put on weight again during chemotherapy. He added: "That kind of stuff was totally unexpected, the heating bills went up at that point just to keep the house warm.
"It would be worse now, you know, facing [the heating bills]. If I had to put it on because of chemo - that's obviously more of a strain." Cancer and it's treatments can make patients feel colder than normal so many have to put the heating on for longer or on higher heats to combat this.
The family looked for monetary support from charities and the government but were unable to secure any funding which left them relying solely on Emma's low pay, savings, and the kindness of others. They managed to get vegetable and bread boxes delivered every other week thanks to a Covid initiative by the local council but Stuart said they were still very conscious of budgeting.
While he is through the worst of his treatment, Stuart sees himself as "lucky" to have gone through chemo and radiotherapy before the cost of living crisis. "It wasn't easy when I was diagnosed but I imagine at this point in time, it would be so horrifying," he said. "We would have been in dire straits because [prices] have definitely gone up."
A new report by life insurance provider Zurich found that cancer patients spend, on average, £6,500 per year due to hidden costs like replacing clothes, prescription costs and domestic support. The dad of one agreed that this was around the amount of money he "suddenly had to find on top of everything else and normal costs."
In a bid to secure their finances, Stuart and Emma got married - "also because we love each other" he laughed. "We wrote wills, you know, all that stuff that everyone puts off in your 20s and 30s saying 'I don't need it' but we sat down and did all that stuff to make sure it was all tidied up and done."
"It's made us reassess how we spend our money and the best way to give ourselves a sort of normal financial life," he explained. "The horror of this situation is that some people have very little help out there and it is increasingly difficult for people to find money."
The cost of being a young family
On top of his surprise cancer costs, Stuart was still looking after his young daughter who had to go to childcare and nursery from September 2019 - the same time that he was in intensive radiotherapy.
This added a whopping £800 to the couple's monthly bills, along with the added hundreds a month from his cancer. He said: "I was too ill to look after her" but was having to work when possible to pay for Delilah's childcare.
While they did have help from the government childcare credits, nursery costs crippled their finances even further as Stuart entered eight months of gruelling therapies. At this time, the festive period was inching closer which was causing more concern as he just wanted to give his only child a good first Christmas.
"I think the thing that is most heart-breaking about this in a way is how the children suffer. The fear of no Christmas presents or not as nice food," he reflected. "All parents want to provide for their children and that's the priority and you've got to make sure you've got enough money to keep her bedroom warm."
A major shock to this young family was the possibility of not being able to have more children without the massive price tag of In vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment. One well known side effect of chemotherapy is the fact it can kill off a man's sperm so many patients are offered to freeze their sperm beforehand - which Stuart opted to do.
"That's the money that we hadn't anticipated," he shared. "If you want to extend your family, you're gonna have to pay in excess of £9,000 a time to go through IVF. We would have naturally tried for another child, but obviously we couldn't."
Stuart sadly added: "We're now facing the cost of IVF if we choose to go down that road. It's probably looking more and more unlikely really in the light of everything else going up. I doubt we'll be able to extend our family on that basis because it's just too expensive."
Although Stuart is unsure if they would have had more children, it's the fact that now they cannot make that decision without factoring in £9,000 that they simply do not have spare. He is thankful for his daughter though, as he adds: "I'm still here and alive and happy and got beautiful daughter so grateful and blessed in many ways."
The future for Stuart and his family
Luckily, Stuart was able to pivot his business online and used the lockdown video calling boom to relaunch his business to be a digital agency creating websites totally from his home. This means he can spend time with his loved ones and he says their finances have stabilised somewhat.
"We've managed to work our way through these things. I don't know how but we will always get from A to B somehow," he added.
Stuart's cancer is terminal and is "a slow growing tumour", he added: "Cancer is sort of imminent and probably will get me at some point".
At this point wants to enjoy time with his family, although holidays are a little harder with limited travel insurance available and precautions.
"I just wanted to spend as much time as I could with Delilah, and my wife, and my family so we all made a commitment to spend a bit more time with each other and do things and create memories and enjoy those kinds of moments where we could," he shared. "I was fortunate in a way that I was still physically well enough to do that after the treatment."
He thinks his positive outlook helped to keep him healthy, both physically and mentally. Stuart said: "The best thing you can do is not sit and wallow. For anyone that's diagnosed right now try and stay positive, speak to friends, think about your mental well being as well and ask for help where you can."
"Really consider your financial position in the face of a diagnosis like this," he advised. "Think about what might happen if it was ever to happen."
"Always go for a check-up. If you have any suspicion that anything's wrong. Get those doctor's appointments, get those kind of screenings," Stuart concluded. "I feel blessed and fortunate. I've got a beautiful family that I can still share precious moments with them."
