October is an important month to me. It's the month when I get to celebrate my birthday and enjoy a lot of seasonal family fun activities. It's the month where we grieve the loss of a family member's angel baby and remember her. And it's the month that a spotlight is shown on Breast Cancer Awareness. Breast Cancer Awareness month was established to raise awareness for the disease so information and support can be offered to those affected by it. My family was impacted directly by breast cancer when my mom was diagnosed with the disease fourteen years ago. She fought and won that battle and I wish I could say that I was a strong supporter, but I have to confess that I wasn't. At the time I was a self-absorbed recent college graduate who was getting married. The impact to me at that time is my mom didn't have the energy to be there in ways I had seen other moms help with weddings. I had to remember to stop and be thankful that she was even able to be there at all.
Now that I have my own children I like to think I'm a bit less self-absorbed. My kids are a huge part of my life. The spotlight is on them and I want to be there to shine it as long as I can. Okay, maybe that is still a bit selfish of me. I want to live to see them grow into the people they will become. The family history worries me though and so do some of the numbers. About one in eight women born today in the US will get breast cancer at some point in their lives and there are over 200 thousand new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the US each year. I think these numbers are scary, but even though breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the US, millions are survivors because of early detection and improvements in treatment.
When caught early, the survival rate for breast cancer is as high as 99 percent, but the diagnosis often is followed by an expensive treatment regimen. Breast cancer patients with employer-sponsored health insurance spend on average over $6500 out-of-pocket. This can be huge financial hit to a family. There are insurance policies that can help ease the financial burden if breast cancer is detected can provide additional coverage. Aflac’s cash benefits can help policyholders pay the out-of-pocket costs associated with costly cancer treatments. A cancer insurance policy can be used not only for treatment expenses not covered by major medical insurance, but also for extra child care that may be needed, transportation to and from the doctor or treatments, and even everyday living expenses, such as mortgage payments or groceries.
Aflac has recently introduced their One Day PaySM initiative, which allows Aflac to process, approve and pay eligible claims in just a day, so you can have the cash you need in hand faster than ever before. Watch this video video to see how Aflac’s cancer insurance policy helped policyholder Celia through her breast cancer journey.
Aflac is again partnering with the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) for its second annual “This Duck Wears Pink” campaign. They are selling a variety of campaign-related merchandise including the plush duck, hats and a breast cancer ribbon pin, with all the net proceeds going to the AACR for the specific purpose of funding research aimed at finding a cure for breast cancer. You can support the cause by donating and shopping for merchandise here.
For more information about Aflac’s partnership with the American Association for Cancer Research Foundation visit ThisDuckWearsPink.com.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
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