[Narrator]
 
Section 5—"Getting Your House in Order."

Kathy is a 42-year-old woman. She recently completed treatment for colorectal cancer that included surgery and chemotherapy. She now has to return to her treatment center for follow-up every 3 months. Listen to her new experiences in cancer survivorship.

[Kathy]

Having cancer started me looking at life in a whole new way. Before cancer, I didn't really think about the possibility of dying. I'm young, and things like that just don't happen to someone like me. Oh, I didn't think I would live forever. But I sure did think I had plenty of time to take care of my will and other things like that. My husband and I would always say, "Yeah, we need to do that," but put it off another day.

[Narrator]

The change Kathy is describing is very common among cancer survivors and people who have experienced a life-threatening event. Kathy now wants to "get her house in order."

[Kathy]

I have three small children, a husband, elderly parents. They all depend on me. I work outside the home to help support our household. My husband and I want to see our children go to college and have some of the things in life that we didn't have. I don't want my family to suffer if something happens to me. My cancer diagnosis and treatment made this very clear to me. 

My husband and I realized that we needed information about what we had to do. The cancer center where I received my treatment had a series of workshops on estate planning. Some of the topics they covered were advance health directives, making a will, power of attorney, financial planning, and life insurance. We went to a few of the workshops and got a lot of good information that helped us start our planning. Now that we've started to take care of a lot of these things, I have a sense of freedom…that my family will be taken care of even if I'm not here. This really took a load off my mind. I can relax a little more now. 

[Narrator]

Kathy and her husband realized that they needed to plan for their personal futures now that they've taken care of their financial future. They learned that one way to plan for your personal future is through the use of advance health directives. 

Advance health directives are legal documents that you sign to instruct your family and doctors about what your choices for future medical care would be in situations where you would not be able to speak for yourself. One of the most important choices is about stopping—or not even starting—life-saving or life-sustaining treatments in the event of a health crisis. Every state has laws recognizing advance health directives. The two most recognized types of advance health directives are a durable power of attorney for healthcare and a living will. 

The durable power of attorney for healthcare lets you name someone who knows your wishes and can speak for you if you become unable to do so. In this situation, this person becomes your "agent" and will have the legal right to make healthcare decisions for you. Your agent can be any adult, like a family member or a close friend. He or she does not have to be a lawyer. You may write down in the durable power of attorney the types of medical care you would wish to have. The more specific you are, the more likely you will receive the care you want. You can get a form for an advance health directive in many places, like the treatment center you have been going to, bookstores, or on the Internet. Power of attorney is a document to authorize someone to make financial decisions for you. This is similar to the durable power of attorney we just discussed. When you give a power of attorney to someone, you permit that person to manage your finances. You should talk with a lawyer for help in preparing the documents that will best express your wishes in regards to your financial matters.

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