Honestly, I'm Fine
The Cost That Doesn’t End: The Financial Aftermath of Childhood Cancer & Child Loss
Childhood cancer doesn’t stop costing a family when treatment ends. It doesn’t even stop when the child dies. After nearly seven years of cancer treatment, disability, rehabilitation, relapse and hospice, my nine-year-old son Kingston died from medulloblastoma in July 2024. Two years later, I’m still living with another consequence of childhood cancer that we rarely talk about: financial toxicity. In this episode, I talk openly about what years of caregiving did to my career and finances, the more than half a million dollars we spent trying to give Kingston a life worth living, the debt that survived him, losing income and benefits after his death, selling his belongings, losing our home, trying to return to the workforce, and attempting to keep life stable for his surviving sister while rebuilding financially. I also talk about something that has been harder for me to admit publicly than almost anything else: I still need help. I don’t believe anyone owes my family indefinite support because my son died. I want the opposite. I want a job, my own income and the ability to buy completely ordinary things without doing financial triage first. Right now, however, I’m recovering from emergency surgery while continuing to look for work, and my family needs help getting through the immediate expenses in front of us. GoFundMe: Support our family here Venmo: @LiveLikeKingston If donating isn’t possible, sharing this episode or the fundraiser matters too. This is the financial aftermath of childhood cancer and child loss—the part that continues long after everyone assumes the emergency is over. In loving memory of Kingston Navarro July 29, 2014 – July 18, 2024
