Helping Families Impacted by Childhood Cancer

At the Ethan Jostad Foundation for Childhood Cancer, our mission is not only to help children with cancer, but to assist the entire family during the long and winding road of treatment. We understand more than anyone that your entire family is impacted by this disease, not just your child who has been diagnosed. Parents and siblings of the diagnosed child also experience physical, emotional, psychological, and financial stress. The last thing any parent or child should have to worry about while being treated for a life threatening illness is how the bills are going to be paid,  how the family will be able to eat, or how the child in treatment will make it to the their next doctor’s visit or clinical test.

Many do not realize the associated costs and financial burden placed on families who are dealing with childhood cancer. There are medications to purchase, co-pays for office visits, deductibles to meet for insurance (if they have insurance), and out-of-pocket medical expenses for medical care. Not only are parents dealing with the hospital bills, the insurance companies, and the illness of their child, but they are also struggling with the every day things many take for granted. When families have the added expense of medical care, things like paying the mortgage, the rent, the utility bill, the grocery bill, or the car payment become even more difficult.

There are additional costs to treatment and care that most people don’t think of and that certainly are not covered by healthcare insurance. As an example, trips to and from the hospital, some that are very long and far to see a Pediatric Oncologist who understands or has any experience with your child’s cancer, forces families to incur large and unplanned fuel costs. Some families don’t have the option to drive to their appointments and must actually fly instead because the cancer type of their child is so rare that only a select few doctors or hospitals even treat it. If the child must be treated inpatient or must be admitted to the hospital there is not always a place for the parents and other family members to stay. Parents can’t always stay in the hospital room with a child and a Ronald McDonald House is not always an option for families. So, many have to stay in hotels or even rent housing if the stay will be extended.

Our foundation helps families in Oregon who are facing childhood cancer and who are in need of financial and family assistance. If you are a resident of the state of Oregon, have a child under the age of 18 who is in active treatment for cancer, and your family is struggling financially, or you know of a family who is, we will do our best to help as much as we can. Simply click on the application button below to download and print our financial assistance form. Then complete your portion and have your child’s medical social worker, Oncology RN, or physician complete their portion of the application and we will consider your application for help.