The St. Jude’s Controversy: A Look at Why Family Reach Welcomed the Spotlight on the Financial Reality of Cancer
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Photo: Matt, 41, colon cancer,
with his wife Yi
When a household name like St. Jude put the issue that Family Reach sees every day out to the masses, it felt like someone handed me a megaphone and said ‘here’s your chance to show the world what cancer really does to a family’ — so I took it,” said Carla Tardif, CEO of Family Reach.
Through that metaphorical megaphone, Carla shared the financial reality of cancer that Family Reach has been living and breathing for more than 25 years. While the ProPublica article, “St. Jude Hoards Billions While Many of Its Families Drain Their Savings,” focused on funding and patient support issues specific to the well-known childhood cancer support organization, we noticed something else. We know that the fear, bankruptcy, and overwhelming stress that accompanies a cancer diagnosis is not a new problem and it’s also not one that’s unique to St. Jude.
Published in Cancer Health, and both print and digital versions of The Tennessean, Carla’s Op-Ed continued to expose the harsh financial side of cancer that has been ignored for far too long.
The St. Jude’s Controversy: A Welcome Spotlight on the Financial Reality of Cancer
A single mom driving all night with her sick child because she can’t afford a hotel room? That’s what cancer means in the United States.
November 26, 2021 • By Carla Tardif
The St. Jude article published by ProPublica, entitled “St. Jude Hoards Billions While Many of Its Families Drain Their Savings,” has set off a firestorm of anger.
The reaction made me very happy. It means that people felt something when they read it and the reaction was strong. That’s a start.
How could you not be upset when you read about a dad sleeping in his car in the hospital parking lot while his 5-year-old daughter battles cancer inside? Or a single mother who’s told to push through the eight-hour drive with her sick child because the cost of a hotel room wasn’t an option?
Some are angry because they feel that St. Jude should do something about it. Others feel that it isn’t St. Jude’s place to take on the financial crisis families experience when their child has cancer.
I’m not here to argue which one is right.
I’m here to say there’s a blurred line between medical care and human care because they have a direct impact on each other.
Fear, hunger, homelessness, job loss, isolation, bankruptcy, debilitating stress, anxiety and death—it’s clear what cancer does to families. This isn’t a new problem, and it’s not unique to St. Jude. It’s cancer.
I’m angry too. Angry that in the wealthiest country in the world, we have the poorest health outcomes because of financial barriers. Cancer robs families of a steady income because of missed work and adds out-of-pocket expenses to access treatment before medical costs even enter the picture. We have come so far in cancer research and treatments, but science is still far outpacing the patient journey. Narrowing that gap will save lives.
If this is the first time you’ve heard about the financial reality of cancer, I hope you won’t turn away. I know it’s hard to wrap your head around and heartbreaking to witness—but if families have to be brave enough to speak up when they’re in it, we have to be willing to dive in to help when we’re not.
So let’s step away from the finger-pointing and angry rants and instead turn our attention to solving the problem.
We need a world where families never have to choose between their health and their home. Until that day, there will be more GoFundMe campaigns for medical expenses and debt, and emotional social media posts about lives changed in an instant because of cancer, reminding people it could happen to them too.
The firestorm that has ensued since the article broke makes me happy because the first step in fixing an issue of this magnitude is people knowing it exists. St. Jude is a household name and they just let everyone know a financial crisis often follows a health crisis.
I see a future where families can truly focus on healing. It’s already happening in areas where Family Reach, a national nonprofit that offers wrap-around financial services for cancer patients, is entrenched in the healthcare system.
Anger is a call to action. It’s the passion that wells up inside you and lets you know this is really important. It propels you into action because you can’t unsee it. A cancer diagnosis shouldn’t mean financial ruin on top of fearing for your own or a loved one’s life.
So be angry, and let’s do something about it.
Carla Tardif is CEO of Family Reach.
Shining a light on the financial reality of cancer
The full story of cancer includes a dark financial side that society at large tends to dramatically overlook. In reality, the many costs of cancer have a significant influence on a patient’s ability to access care and adhere to treatment plans.
For Carla and the Family Reach team, uncovering this dark side means asking what the smiling and hopeful St. Jude families experience when they leave the hospital. Who is paying for their housing while they spend most of their time in a hospital room? How can they work when they’re by their child’s side? Where is the income going to come from now that there are added out-of-pocket expenses to access care? What is the ripple effect of the many costs of cancer on their entire family?
“You have to be brave to look at the human suffering side of cancer and the ProPublica article opened a lot of eyes,” Carla said. “My goal in writing the Op-Ed was to say now that you know, don’t stop there. Let’s move into action and do something about this together. Family Reach has been waiting for you to join us for 25 years.”
Leaning into anger as a call-to-action
Anger is both a connecting theme and an impactful tone throughout the Op-Ed, as Carla encourages people to embrace the emotion that lets you know something is important to you and allow it to inspire action.
Carla admits that she gets angry on a daily basis when she hears the stories about what the families her organization serves are going through, though she’s quick to turn it into “fuel that feeds passion to create widespread change.”
“I’m not an angry person, actually,” Carla continued. “I’m very positive and I believe in the power of collaboration and innovation to solve really big problems. Someone once described me by saying ‘she didn’t know it couldn’t be done, so she went ahead and did it!’ That’s how I lead Family Reach.”
Building momentum around the financial side of cancer
While the ProPublica article sparked outrage, change will only happen if more people refuse to turn their backs on the cracks in the cancer care system that need fixing.
To date, this problem has yet to gain the amount of consistent traction and attention that solving it will require. While it’s clear how the many costs of cancer can negatively affect patient outcomes, Family Reach is the only nationwide organization that provides free wrap-around financial services to patients of all ages and cancer types.
We believe in a future where every family can heal without worrying about money, and getting there requires a groundswell of action.
“Family Reach is driven by people who believe that this isn’t charity, it’s humanity,” Carla shared. “Humanity is about identifying with someone else’s situation, feeling their pain, and walking a mile in their shoes with them because that is the only way to stop the injustice. Family Reach is willing to show up, day after day. We are here to tell the hard stories and to inspire action with our proven solutions.”
Along with the Financial Treatment Program, Family Reach is actively piloting ways to improve program delivery and collaborate with other organizations to have the most profound impact on the cancer landscape. The sooner we include financial health in cancer treatment plans, the closer we’ll be to completely addressing the non-medical needs of the cancer community.
“I’m hopeful the momentum to pull back the curtain on the non-medical side of cancer continues,” Carla said. “We need thousands more stories like the ProPublica one so people will start to understand that this exact story is in every nook and cranny of this country.”
Join us in making Family Reach and organizations likes ours the household names that demand attention and action. Together, we will change the financial reality of cancer.
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