In 2023, Mathieu Michaud, a self-employed worker and owner of an auto repair shop in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, was diagnosed with Waldenström's disease, an incurable rare bone marrow cancer. After 3 years of tests, he finally received the diagnosis and found out that the average life expectancy was 15 years.
His symptoms started in 2021, with extreme fatigue, body aches and night sweats. Mathieu knew something serious was going on. While his diagnosis may have ended his long search for answers, the challenges he would face were just beginning.
A lack of financial security
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Mathieu’s illness led to unexpected challenges, and being self-employed with no private health insurance only added to them. Selling his auto repair shop shortly before his diagnosis in February 2023 helped him support himself in the short-term. But as he was unable to work, he had to use over $35,000 of his retirement savings in 1 year to cover his living expenses. There were other big expenses too – around $2,000 in travel expenses, $3,000 for prescription drugs and the cost of hiring a handyman to maintain his home.
"Everything I had saved went toward my cancer," he says.
Short on money, Mathieu had to give up essential care such as physiotherapy. His situation grew more complicated when he lost his driver's license because of his seizures. This limited his ability to travel even more. During his treatments, his partner helped by driving him to the hospital, sometimes travelling as far as Montreal.
Despite the exhaustion caused by his treatments, Mathieu returned to work as an agricultural product sales representative in May 2024. He was used to working 7 days a week and was relieved to return to some kind of normalcy.
Not enough support to cover financial challenges
Mathieu was also facing a lack of institutional support. His disability pension application was denied, and he received a chilling response from a Service Canada official: “When you run out of money, you’re going to live under a bridge.”
Before his own experience with cancer, Mathieu did not know about the impact of the costs associated with cancer.
I thought our health insurance program covered everything. My chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatments were covered, but lost wages, uncovered care and unexpected expenses were not.
Living with uncertainty
Although Mathieu is now cancer-free, he fears that it will come back, and lives with chronic pain. Every ache triggers his fears and worsens his financial worries. Now living in Notre-Dame-du-Portage, in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, he is adjusting to life with his illness.
Mathieu’s story highlights a lesser-known reality: beyond the medical challenges, people with cancer also face equally devastating financial challenges.