Cancer patients face financial hardship amid cost-of-living crisis

When Catalina Alcazar first started having difficulty swallowing, she thought it was reflux.

Instead, an endoscopy confirmed an aggressive eight-centimetre tumour on her oesophagus.

The cancer diagnosis upended the 39-year-old Canberra mother's life.

What she did not expect, on top of the physical toll, was the financial burden.

"Private hospitals aren't cheap, private surgeons' consultations aren't cheap and I had to advocate for myself to be put into the public system because I just was not in the position to be able to finance myself."

Ms Alcazar leant on Canberra-based charity Rise Above for financial aid.

The cancer relief organisation provides patients with food and fuel vouchers, along with money for medicine, dietary supplements and fertility preservation.

"All you're thinking about is, 'how do I survive this?'

"But then, of course, life doesn't stop, bills don't stop, we have to eat, we have to be able to go from place to place, even from appointment to appointment."

'Astonishing' rise in demand

As the cost-of-living crisis continues, Rise Above is experiencing unprecedented demand for economic assistance from struggling cancer patients.

"It's astonishing the increase in the number of people that need our help," chief executive Renee Watson said.

The biggest rise has been in the 20 to 45-year-old age group.

"There's a whole heap of people out there who maybe before decided, 'we'll leave that for someone else, we won't seek financial assistance', who are now having to because the cost-of-living crisis is making them have to make very tough decisions," Ms Watson said.

The price of fuel has been a particular pinch point.

"About once a week at the moment, I'm having a patient call us saying, 'I'm really sorry, I know that I'm not due to get another voucher for another week or so, but if I can't fill my car up this week, I either can't feed my family or I can't get to my chemo appointment'," Ms Watson said.

Cancer patients losing income

Research from the Cancer Council shows more than 38 per cent of cancer patients lose their income during treatment.

Other data shows some patients pay more than $10,000 in out-of-pocket costs in the year after their diagnosis.

"There are a whole load of people who are digging into their savings, digging into their reserves," Ms Watson said.

Major demand, coupled with fundraising shortfalls, has forced Rise Above to cut the pool of money available for each patient, from $2,500 grants down to $2,000.

"The biggest challenge we have is that the worse the economy gets, the more people need our services, the harder it is for us to raise money," Ms Watson said.

"Nobody should ever be having to compromise their access to their chemotherapy because they can't afford to get there, they can't afford the fuel."

After undergoing chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, Ms Alcazar is in recovery.

As far as she is concerned, the charity is "an absolute godsend".

"I wasn't worried about having either groceries, or petrol … that burden was really reduced through their assistance," she said.

"Being in and out of hospital is brutal enough."