In actual fact, people do not start feeling stressed at the 15th week, or even approaching the 15th week; it is long before that. It starts from the time the person meets their doctor and learns that the required treatment could last 40 weeks.

The patient may hope that it does not take that long, but ultimately they receive their benefits for the 12th, 13th and finally the 15th week. As I said earlier, the patient and their loved ones then have to raise money using the GoFundMe platform, for instance, or hold spaghetti dinners and so on.

There is a special ingredient in these efforts. A lot of love goes into these gestures, but that energy should be channelled elsewhere. It should go to helping the sick person, whether that means driving them to the hospital, helping them in their daily routines with the children, in short, just being there.

The 15‑week period is a psychological barrier. Once that period ends, things become dramatic. Émilie was fortunate to have people around her who were a bit more financially secure. Not everyone is in that position, though. As I said earlier, these people are often in the tertiary sector and have low wages. No one expects an illness. They do not have that reflex. They think about building their house, buying a car and making good decisions. When they receive a diagnosis, however, everything changes.

For my part, I had multiple myeloma and had a bone marrow transplant. So Émilie had faith in medicine, but in her case the treatment did not work. And of course the pandemic did not help her situation.

So all of this creates incredible stress. If the financial issues were settled and under control, the situation would be easier. I am not talking about giving out money left and right, but rather spending that money wisely to help sick people. I think workers might be willing to contribute a bit more for that purpose. Perhaps that is the price of the desired peace of mind.

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