Colorado Springs breast cancer patient raising money to help pay bills

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - As inflation soars, so do bills.

For the Robinson family in Colorado Springs, medical bills have gotten to the point that they're asking for help.

Tammy Robinson was diagnosed with breast cancer in June. She says that the first biopsy cost $20,000 and she had to pay $8,000 of that. Since then, she's had surgery and now faces multiple rounds of chemo, radiation therapy, and hormone therapy.

"[It would help with] the card payments and insurance and things that I had to put off just when I was prioritizing the rent and the groceries," Robinson said.

She says that the invisible costs are adding up too, things like her husband and herself needing to take time off work to go to doctor's appointments and for her recovery.

"We were getting paid less and the bills were getting higher," Robinson said.

The financial pressure adds to the mounting weight of fighting cancer. Robinson is a mother to two and works from home.

"Everybody knows, like when going through like chemo and the cancer, stress makes it worse," Robinson said.

Robinson is an example of a much bigger problem.

According to data from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, cited from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, healthcare costs have been on the rise for a long time.

"One minute you feel like, yeah, I'm going to take it on. I'm going to be okay, I'm going to stay positive. And then just a little thing just throws you into like a spiral," Robinson said.

For a link to Robinson's GoFundMe, click here.

For more information on the Colorado Consumer Health Care Initiative.