Navigating Work Amid Cancer
- A new study finds that patients who have no job due to brain or spine cancer may experience worsened symptoms of pain, discomfort, anxiety and depression compared to people battling cancer with jobs.
- Actress Shannen Doherty is currently battling metastatic breast cancer. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 after finding a lump in her breast that turned out to be cancerous. Her cancer later returned and spread to her lymph nodes.
- While it is illegal to discriminate against an employee for getting sick, some survivors have told us they’ve been fired for getting sick.
- If you are diagnosed with cancer and worried about how it will affect your job, there is legislation in place that may be able to protect you.
“The best example that I can continue to set for other people with cancer, and to the outside world who doesn’t have cancer, is to show them what a cancer patient looks like,” 51-year-old Doherty previously told Variety. “We are employable. So, for me, I’m just trying to live the best I can, to be the best example at this moment.”
Read MoreThe study, conducted with 277 people averaging age 45 with primary central nervous system tumors, found that patients who have no job due to brain or spine cancer may experience worsened symptoms of pain, discomfort, anxiety and depression than people battling cancer with jobs.
“The financial consequences of receiving a cancer diagnosis can be great and affect a person’s ability to keep their job and access health insurance,” the author of the study, Dr. Heather Leeper, MD, MS, a neurologist affiliated with the University of Chicago Medical Center and a member of the AAN, stated in a press release.
“This is especially true for people of working age who may have fewer financial resources than older adults who are retired and qualify for Medicare,” he explained. “Our research found that being unemployed due to brain and spine cancer is strongly linked with more symptoms, more difficulty being able to perform daily tasks, reduced quality of life, as well as psychological distress, which may affect a person’s ability to return to work.”
The research, published on February 8, 2023, found that 25% of unemployed people had moderate-to-severe depression symptoms compared to the 8% of people with jobs.
In regard to anxiety, 30% of unemployed cancer patients had moderate-to-severe anxiety symptoms compared to 15% of employed patients.
Additionally, 13% of people without jobs reported having the highest level of pain or discomfort when compared to 4% of those employed.
Unemployed patients also reported having more difficulty with daily activities such as walking, getting dressed, and a lessened quality of life.
Meanwhile, one cancer patient in search of a job has opened up to Insider about how her interviewers complained her headpiece was not “professional” enough.
Krystal Garmon, who lost her hair after undergoing cancer treatment twice and hopes to inspire others to be strong, told Insider about her experience. She even opened up on LinkedIn about it.
“Today, I had an interview with a company that did not end their Zoom meeting before they began to talk with each other,” she wrote on the job search platform.
She recounted the interviewers saying, “‘She had a head cap on, did she know she was in an interview?’ ‘She would look more professional if she showed her hair. I can’t tell what color her hair is.'”
Garmon, who admits she “broke down crying” after she hung up the call, decided to share her story to help others.
“I got messages of love and connection from cancer survivors, those who are still going through it, and those affected by this horrible disease. I got messages of support from folks who bonded over shared experiences through the hiring process and the humiliation they’ve also experienced,” she wrote in a recent post. “I hope something that I shared within my post gave someone strength.”
Shannen Doherty Does ‘It All’ Amid Breast Cancer Battle
The 51-year-old actor, best known for her roles in Heathers, Charmed and Beverly Hills, 90210, was first diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2015 after finding a lump in her breast.
At first, she was treated with hormone therapy, but this effort turned out to be ineffective as the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. Then, she underwent a single mastectomy to remove one of her breasts, chemotherapy and radiation. She was into remission until 2019, when she discovered her breast cancer had returned. This time, the cancer had spread to other parts of her body making it a metastatic, or stage four, cancer diagnosis.
But despite an ongoing fight with the disease, Doherty has managed to keep working. In fact, she filmed three movies back to back amid her cancer battle—Dying to Belong, a remake of the 1997 TV movie with Hilary Swank about the dangers of sorority hazing, List of a Lifetime, which actually touches upon the topic of breast cancer and the BRCA gene mutation that can increase your risk of the disease, and a Bruce Willis action movie called The Fortress.
“I don’t think there was ever even a thought that I wouldn’t work,” Doherty told Variety back in 2021. “When you can’t imagine not doing [the things you love], you just go, ‘Well, I’m gonna continue to do all of it!’”
And despite the utmost confidence in herself, Doherty said it could be tough to convince employers she could handle the work.
“Stage 4 cancer, it doesn’t mean the end of your life,” she said. “It doesn’t mean that you’re not viable in the workplace. It’s quite the opposite.”
Working During a Cancer Journey
A cancer battle can change your life. But how you proceed to go about your days as you face the disease is entirely up to you.
Whether it be for financial reasons, a sense of normalcy, or simply because you like what you do, it’s important to try to make a work schedule that suits you during your cancer journey if you want to continue working. It’s also important for you to know there are people out there to help you navigate the process of not working if that’s your preferred option.
The Reality About Going Back To Work After Cancer
Laurie Ostacher, a social worker at Sutter Bay Medical Foundation, previously spoke to SurvivorNet about how she helps people figure out their working situation after a cancer diagnosis.
“Some women choose to continue working [through cancer] because working is a significant part of their identity, they enjoy the job, and there’s flexibility built in,” she explained. “I help folks think about whether it makes sense to work … If you really don’t want to but are worried you’re not going to be able to make ends meet, then I’ll sit down and help them figure out, you know, with your disability insurance, would this be possible?”
Ostacher also shared the questions she might pose to people in order to help them think about how their work life might look while fighting cancer.
Working During Your Cancer Treatment
“For women who choose to work, I help them think about what types of conversations do you need to have with their employer? How much information do you want to share with him or her? What type of work schedule seems like it might work for you? Where might you need more flexibility?” she said.
No matter what, it’s important to do what’s right for you and seek out valuable resources like Ostacher if you need help deciding on the right course of action when it comes to working during a cancer battle.
Know Your Rights as an Employee
Some people with job problems related to cancer are protected by the Rehabilitation Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act. Others may also benefit from the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a law that allows many people with serious illnesses to take unpaid leave to get medical care or manage their symptoms. Talk to someone in your human resources department or another workplace expert to find out what your options are.
In some situations, employers must accommodate a qualified applicant or employee with a disability unless the employer can show it would be an undue hardship to do so. This could mean making changes to work schedules, equipment, or policies. Find out more about job accommodations and employment of people with limitations from the Job Accommodation Network.
Earlier this year, Publicis Groupe, a major ad and PR company, launched the Working With Cancer pledge, aiming to erase the stigma of cancer and other serious chronic diseases in the workplace and provide tangible help to employees.
Navigating the Cost of Cancer
Resources are essential to a successful cancer battle, but, unfortunately, resources can bear a heavy cost. Thankfully, there are places to turn when the bills start piling up. Some people look to various crowdfunding methods with online platforms such as GoFundMe, and others actually turn to spaces like the cryptocurrency world — though the price of cryptocurrencies is generally erratic, meaning that price stability can be an issue.
But crowdfunding, in general, can be a tough way to raise funds during a loved one’s cancer battle. According to a study conducted by researchers at the University of California San Francisco, GoFundMe efforts often fall short. The study found that the average “goal” for patients on their GoFundMe pages is $10,000, but the average amount raised is less than a quarter of the goal at $2,125. Some people find great success with crowdfunding, but the success stories can be few and far between.
Speaking with social workers affiliated with your cancer center can be an option for people who don’t like the unpredictability of crowdfunding efforts. And as we’ve seen in the cases of many cancer warriors, they can be a huge help. Oftentimes, they can help guide patients to resources when the financial burden of cancer becomes too great. Patient assistance programs, for example, can be beneficial. Your social worker might point you to one of these programs when it comes to specific, expensive drugs because some pharmaceutical companies offer to help patients cover the cost.
Reaching out to various foundations can also be a viable option for cancer patients. There are many nonprofit and advocacy organizations that offer programs to help financially support a patient’s cost of care. The Lazarex Cancer Foundation, for example, helps patients cover costs associated with clinical trials and other organizations like the American Cancer Society and the Cancer Support Community may help with travel costs for treatment.
Paying for Cancer: Find Someone Who Will Advocate For You
Regardless, it’s always a great idea to explore your options and talk to people who might be able to help. Dr. Allyson Ocean, a medical oncologist at Weill Cornell Medical Center, recommends finding an advocate within the medical field when dealing with costly medical bills. Speaking from experience, Dr. Ocean knows having a medical advocate in your corner can make all the difference. She calls insurance companies all the time to help her patients get the treatment they need to be covered by insurance.
“My best advice to work around the system of whether or not drugs or tests can be covered for cancer is to make sure you have an advocate in your field working for you,” Dr. Ocean says. “The frustrating part for me is that sometimes we even have to educate the insurance companies and say, ‘There’s a reason why I want to use this medicine.’”
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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