The current SA stats for breast cancer reveal that one in thirty-six women has breast cancer. My blog last week spoke about the general costs and overall statistics of cancer, but today I’d like to get a little more specific as to the expected ‘realistic’ impact that breast cancer will have on those who may be diagnosed this month.

Whilst it’s a scary reality, the sooner breast cancer is diagnosed the higher the chance that it can be treated through to full recovery. Breast cancer can run in families, but fewer than 10% of cases are as a result of an inherited family gene.

As I’m sure you will know by now, October is dedicated to breast cancer as it is currently the most common cause of cancer-related death among women (522,000 deaths in 2012). Hopefully, with more education and awareness, less deaths will be caused by this common cancer.

The Likelihood of Getting Cancer

Since the 2008 GLOBOCAN estimates, the incidence of breast cancer has grown by more than 20%.

Before age 65: 1 in 10
Over the age of 65: 1 in 4
Over the age of 75: 1 in 2

The Cost of Breast Cancer Treatment

Currently, the choice of many Oncologists is Herceptin (find out more here) and it’s considered by some to be the ‘wonder’ drug for breast cancer treatment. This treatment costs around R25k per dose. Treatment plans vary from case to case, but you can expect the costs to be well above R300k.

Do You Have Sufficient Critical Illness Cover?

There are many strategic financial products on available to cover medical costs as well as loss of income during treatment and recovery that, if in place early on, can help you and your family should you find yourself in need of life-saving treatments and recovery time that will be free from additional financial stress.

Should you wish to check out your existing cover, then let’s hook up! If you think it’s hard to think about this now, imagine how hard it would be to receive a life-changing diagnosis and not have any cover?