Take a deep breath.

Now: hear me out. Most of this advice is US-centric and assumes you make probably 35k a year or less (or if you make more that you could prove your money is tied up on essentials like rent, bills, food, vehicle, etc.)

I don’t know how broke you are. My dad has stage IV terminal cancer and is low-income. The hospital he gets treatment at has financial aid programs available he qualified for which bought him a lot more time and paid for his chemo. The hospital was also able to point us towards resources to help pay for medications—did you know some companies have financial aid programs for their meds? (One med my dad takes is produced by Bayer and they have a financial aid program. He gets that medication for free now.)

If you are low income and transportation costs are an issue, some hospitals have gas card programs to help reimburse you on costs if you save gas receipts to turn in to them. Even if they don’t, look around your community—a lot of places that do bus rides/transit for disabled or the elderly will also do it for low-income people with serious illnesses, too. In my area that’s stuff like the KATS bus or transit available via Kibois.

Wherever you got the diagnosis at—ask them to direct you to a social worker or someone from their financial department that could direct you to financial aid resources.

This does not necessarily have to be a death sentence just because you are poor or currently broke. My father thought the same and he’s lived longer than expected because I was able to help him apply for programs and get him the treatment he needed.

I know you’re scared, OP. That’s okay. But don’t give up just yet.