MONTREAL -- Extra health care costs can add up quickly for cancer survivors, compounding stress during an already difficult time.
Just ask Deborah Bridgman, who has battled breast cancer for 25 years and has been off work since 2007.
On long-term leave from her job, Bridgman is still collecting some of her salary, but says paying bills isn't always easy.
"I've been paying thousands upon thousands of dollars for all the medication. I've been on medication for 25 years," said Bridgman.
It's not only medication – parking and transport can add up, too.
"Going to the hospital, the parking is never less than $20 every time I go and I'm at a minimum one time a week at the hospital," she said.
The CAQ government has vowed to lower hospital parking rates in the spring to combat this issue, particularly for long-term patients.
Lodging costs are also a factor for those who have to travel long distances for treatment.
Many workers face a pay cut after being diagnosed, said Emily Ayoub of the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation.
"We're talking a decrease of income up to $12,000 to $13,000, the first year after diagnosis," she said, adding some people spend up to $2,000 per month on costs.
"Some medications are covered by RAMQ, some aren't. Even people who have private insurance, it doesn't always cover 100 per cent," she said. "Imagine you have to deal with a deadly disease and on top of that, you don't always have the means to provide for your own health and your family as well."
Bridgman says she is constantly looking for ways to cut her budget.
"In 2012, I ended up selling my house, literally, to pay off debt upon debt that I had accumulated in five years," she said, noting she worries about the future.
"I feel like I don't know what to do," she said. "I'm running out of RRSPs. I really wanted to keep those for my daughters. What happens when I have no RRSPs left?"
