Isabella Mireles: Over 85% of My Life Has Been Spent as a Part of the Cancer Community

Isabella Mireles, Pre-Law Student at UC Irvine, shared on LinkedIn:

“As a soon-to-be 21-year-old, over 85% of my life has been spent as a part of the cancer community – a connection I wouldn’t trade for the world. For years, this connection drove me to advocacy.

I spent my childhood and adolescence fundraising for the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation, a local charity that helps families like mine in my community of Santa Barbara, California. I poured my voice and my story into this work, and for so long, I was grateful for the chance to give back.

But as I’ve gotten older, that gratitude has been joined by a growing sense of injustice. I now know that a cancer patient’s safety can be compromised by financial toxicity. I’ve since learned that 4 in every 10 cancer patients will forgo treatment because of its cost, and that in 2023, over a million Californians were unable to pay for basic necessities because of medical debt.

As I reflect on my cancer journey, I see the painful irony: how even in a place as wealthy as Santa Barbara – where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s residence is fifteen minutes away from the local hospital – families in my community still had (and have) to rely on bake sale fundraisers and donations to afford life-saving treatment.

That frustration is the very fire behind my policy work. It’s why I’m writing a policy white paper that proposes a solution to address this systemic injustice. The paper outlines a new model to combat financial toxicity by improving the coordination of financial aid in California’s cancer community.

To ensure my research is grounded in real-world expertise, I am seeking input from multiple groups. If interested, please use the appropriate link below.

For Doctors and Researchers: If you are a clinician or researcher, I would be grateful for the opportunity to learn from your academic and medical expertise on this critical issue.

For Survivors and Advocates: If you or a loved one have experienced financial toxicity, I would be grateful for the opportunity to give a voice to your story and the specific burdens you faced.

For Health Tech Innovators: If you are a health tech innovator, I would be grateful for the opportunity to learn from your expertise on how AI, blockchain, and other technologies can create a more efficient financial aid coordination system.

For Financial Aid Professionals: If you are a social worker, financial counselor, or a professional with a charity, I would be grateful for the opportunity to learn from your experience on the front lines of this fight.

Any and all insight, advice, or guidance would be incredibly helpful!  If you have any questions, want to get involved, or don’t fit into the categories above, please leave a comment or send me a message.

Thank you so much for your time and support!”

Stacey Tinianov, Executive Director at Advocates for Collaborative Education, shared Isabella Mireles’s post:

“For those with serious illness, Financial Toxicity is very real. Kudos to Isabella Mireles for proposing systems-based solutions for tackling the issue. If you have a lived experience, either as a patient, survivor, co-survivor, or clinician, please consider taking the appropriate survey and sharing with your communities.”

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