“Cancer sucks.” That is a crude sentence but one I have never heard anyone dispute. 

Cancer can affect anyone. Hell, cancer has affected everyone. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t had a family member or friend battle the disease. Cancer doesn’t care who you are—man, woman, young, old, rich, poor, active, sedentary, religious, atheist, fat, thin, tall, short, black, white, brown, yellow, red or polka dot—when cancer comes, its effects are far reaching.

There is the physical toll, of course. Some of the treatments used to try to halt and reverse the spread of the disease are brutal on the patient. Aches, pains, vomiting and fatigue are just a few of the side effects. Many patients report periods where whatever stamina they thought they had would vaporize in an instant as if someone just flipped a switch to “off.”

The emotional toll can be even more trying. Patients struggle with gut-wrenching questions like, “Why me? Will I beat this? Will it come back? How will my family fare without me? Am I scaring the kids? What will my friends/family/coworkers think of me? Are people really pulling for me or have they already dissociated and written me off? Do they feel sorry for me? Is it selfish to want to enjoy what time I have left? Is enjoying my remaining time even possible? Will I be remembered for the person I was or my medical condition near the end? How do I keep people from seeing me this way? Will I ever get my hair back? Are my children destined to get this too?”

To add to the stress, families can face a radically different financial reality. Incomes often drop significantly because the patient can’t work. Spouses who help care for patients often must cut back their hours. Keeping tabs on everything can be an overwhelming task.

The number of bills and the size of those bills can be staggering. Lung cancer patients are looking at a $200,000 tab. It is no wonder that 86 percent of cancer survivors with health insurance reported serious financial burden, according to the American Cancer Society.

Cancer patients are almost three times more likely to declare bankruptcy than the overall population. Bankrupt patients are 80 percent more likely to die than others with cancer. 24 percent borrow against retirement funds and more than one in three deplete their savings. At a time when nutrition is critical, 37 percent of patient families cut back on groceries.

Financial planners can have very little direct effect on the physical and emotional effects of cancer, but we can make all the difference to some patients financially. It is possible that financial planning can help save lives.

Years ago, a trustee at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston asked the organization if it felt matching patients up with a certified financial planner practitioner would be helpful to their patients. Dana Farber believed so and reached out to the FPA of Massachusetts for some help. It was clear to doctors and social workers that financial stresses were impeding treatment for many patients and that qualified advisors would be an important resource for families.

Rick Fingerman, CFP, CDFA, CCFS, a managing partner at Financial Planning Solutions in Newton, Mass., was one of the financial planners that participated in a pilot program back in 2008 to provide pro bono help. His role is now of liaison and oversees the program as well as matches up patients with coaches. 

Says Fingerman, “The word ‘planning’ typically does not resonate so we call ourselves financial ‘coaches.’ We’ve prevented foreclosures, helped create estate plans, helped patients file their taxes and found them various resources. But many times, listening to their story is the best we can do. Even when we can’t do much, it has still been among the most rewarding work I’ve ever done.”

Cancer is such a personal matter that in most cases pro bono services are most effective through a one to one match. At Dana Farber, a social worker notes the financial concerns and tries to pair the family with a financial planner that would be a good fit based on that family’s facts and circumstances.

The pilot succeeded, and the program was expanded. Hundreds of families have received free coaching from FPA of MA members. More programs are developing in other areas of the country.

We all go through life seeking some balance but when a cancer diagnosis hits, that effort is crushed.

“There is no plan for cancer,” explained one lady that worked with Family Reach, a 501(c)(3) organization that has received grants from the Foundation for Financial Planning, the financial planning profession’s foundation and the only organization exclusively devoted to supporting pro bono financial planning programs for people in need. Family Reach assists families with a child or parent afflicted with cancer and provided people to speak about the issue for a video for the foundation.

“You are in a fog until someone knocks on the door and says, ‘Hey, you owe us,’” said another video participant.

Balance? No way, according to the video, “Life stops for us, but it doesn’t. Life is still going on and the bills are still coming in.”

Can financial planners really make a difference? Yes, they can.

The National Cancer Institute says that studies show physiological stress—what people feel when they are under mental, physical or emotional pressure—can affect a tumor’s ability to grow and spread. “Studies in mice and in human cancer cells grown in the laboratory have found that the stress hormone norepinephrine, part of the body’s fight-or-flight response system, may promote angiogenesis and metastasis.”

A study in The Journal of Clinical Investigation (Sood, 2010) showed that stress hormones can directly support tumor growth and spread.

A June 2010 study in Clinical Cancer Research compared two groups of women battling breast cancer. One group received interventions to reduce stress such as relaxation training and advice on minimizing stress. The other did not. Patients in the intervention group had a 45 percent reduced risk of breast cancer recurrence, improvements in multiple immune function measurements and improvements in various quality of life outcomes.

It is widely accepted that stress negatively affects the immune system. These studies and more suggest stress also enhances tumor growth. Every financial planner knows money issues can cause stress. It is no stretch then to say financial planning for cancer patients can be a high impact endeavor.

One recipient of assistance echoed Rick Fingerman’s thoughts when she said simply, “It was such a relief to know that someone who was walking into that room was there to help.”

The Foundation for Financial Planning has launched a new initiative to raise $1 million dollars to develop and support pro bono programs for at-risk families affected by cancer.

I am a board member of the Foundation for Financial Planning, but I am also the grandson of a former cervical cancer patient, financial planner to two clients with prostate cancer and the friend of a current breast cancer patient. I have seen the physical and emotional pain they endured first hand and I have been inspired by their fights against this horrible disease.

I have also seen firsthand how proactively tackling finances reduces a patient’s stress levels. While that gives me a sense of satisfaction it is also a source of frustration. I can’t help but a few families directly and there is no shortage of people that could use the help.

It is because of my limitations that my wife and I have joined others and contributed to the foundation’s pro bono cancer initiative. I may not be able to help many more families, but I can fund the effort to make such help more prevalent.

My hope in taking a break from traditional retirement and financial planning subjects and writing about this initiative is two-fold; First, get more financial planners involved in this pro bono work. Second, get planners that can’t roll up their sleeves to open their checkbooks for this great cause.

I know readers have their own cancer stories to tell and have been inspired by the fight as much as I have. Think about how this wretched bane on humanity has affected your life, your family or your friends and consider making a gift.

To learn more and donate, please visit the pro bono for cancer campaign website. If you’re an FPA member and interested in potential volunteer opportunities, please reach out to FPA at [email protected].

Dan Moisand, CFP, has been featured as one of America’s top independent financial advisors by Financial Planning, Financial Advisor, Investment Advisor, Investment News, Journal of Financial Planning, Accounting Today, Research, Wealth Manager, and Worth magazines. He practices in Melbourne,Fla. You can reach him at www.moisandfitzgerald.com.