The cost of cancer: Sarah’s diagnosis came with a financial blow that caught her off guard [Video]

When Sarah Occhino was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer at the age of 28, she was left stunned.

“It’s been a massive blow in a million ways,” the Melbourne live sound engineer told 9news.com.au.

“The first week is the worst, when they tell you, ‘We think you’ve got it, we just don’t know how bad, and you’ve got a week until we’ll have the biopsy results.’ 

“Nothing is worse than that week.”

After Occhino was delivered the bad news, she was almost immediately thrown into a gruelling treatment program expected to last six months.

Her treatment includes chemotherapy every three weeks, targeted medication for her type of breast cancer, HER2-positive, and a double mastectomy.

Occhino said she felt grateful to be receiving “incredible” medical care through the public system, including at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

However, one aspect that has taken her off guard is the financial …