Julie Carasone and I am 50 years old and a 14 year breast cancer survivor. 14 years ago, I started my journey into medical debt.

When I was 36 years old, my Aunt Stephanie was diagnosed with breast cancer. She urged all her nieces and her daughter to get a mammogram. I was able to get my mammogram, even though I was 36 years old. Much to my surprise I flunked my first mammogram. I had to get a biopsy and when the results came in, I heard the words, “you have breast cancer.” My fight began that day, not only for myself, but for my family, and more specifically my two girls.

Here I thought I would be able to just go to a Cancer Center and fight the beast and be ok. Oh, how ignorant I was to medical costs. I thought that I would just pay a co-pay, and everything would be covered. I was wrong.

My surgery to have a mastectomy, reconstruction, and reduction, cost $90,000. Yes, you read that right; $90K. When my bill was broken down, I became angry because of how much things cost. For a bag of Benadryl before my chemo, it cost me $300.00. Why couldn’t I just take over the counter Benadryl? Each chemo treatment was $20k. When I asked questions, they had no answers. No wonder I reached my limit on my insurance policy. At the end of my treatment, even after insurance, I was over $80,000 in debt.

During the time that I was being treated, I had to work. I used up all my vacation and sick time and I lost money when I took more time off without pay. I didn’t have a fundraiser, because at that time GoFundMe wasn’t a thing and Facebook was just getting started. My parents lived out of state, but when they came up from Virigina, I was so very thankful. They bailed me out so many times. They would pay my rent, my electric bill, and they would take me grocery shopping.

And still, my medical bills continued to pile up. There was no way for me to pay them. I would get calls from bill collectors every day. One even said that I should be grateful and pay the bills because they saved my life.

Then, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted, and things became even worse. My insurance policy went from $180 a month to $600 a month with a $4,000 deductible. I had to stop my cancer treatments, because I could no longer afford them, and I had to support my girls.

Finally, I had nowhere else to turn. My only solution was to file for bankruptcy. My parents gave me $750 to file and when it was over, I felt such a great relief to have the bill collectors off my back, and I could sleep knowing that I didn’t owe $80,000 in medical bills. Can I buy a house or get a low interest loan now, no. My credit is damaged, but I can pay my bills again.

The bill collector’s statement that I should pay the bills because they saved my life still makes me feel guilty, because I am forever indebted in my heart to the doctors and hospitals. But fighting cancer was not the only war I was forced to face that day when I heard those awful words. I had to battle medical debt too.

There needs to be something done about the out of control, unrealistic costs of medical care. Doctors and healthcare facilities deserve to be paid, but patients don’t deserve price gouging and the long-term financial fallout of seeking care. I don’t know what the answer is. But I do know that we need to #endmedicaldebt now.

Julie is only one of millions of Americans facing medical debt. If you are struggling because of medical debt too, visit #End Medical Debt | Community Service Society of New York (cssny.org) and share your story or contact your elected officials to ask them to take a stand against medical debt today.