PIP

Living with secondary breast cancer Supporting each other and sharing experiences
1

Hi everybody Ive been diagnosed with secondary breast cancer which is in my spine, I would be grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction, I am going to apply for PIP and am unsure whether I say my cancer is terminal, I know its uncurable and hopefully can be managed but I’m unclear what to answer. Extremely baffled xx

2

Hi janie
Welcome to the forum where we are all very friendly and supportive, sorry to hear your diagnosis. I hope your treatment is helping if you have been started on a plan.
I have had bone & liver mets since Dec 2012 & live a fairly good life at the moment I would say. I applied for PIP in 2014 and got it, it was recently reviewed & continued. I have bumped up a useful thread called PIP yes yes yes for you.
All the very best with your treatment.
Helen x

3

Hi Janie if you have a local Macmillan Centre they usually have advisors who will help you complete the form /give advise.

4

Thankyou for your quick reply, the process seems to be a scary thing and reading peoples difficulties makes me cross.
I havent started my treatment yet as unfortunately my surgery on my back needed to heal then I needed to make sure my teeth were inorder which unfortunately I’ve had to have a tooth removed and am waiting for that to heal but I must admit am a bit worried about starting my treatment which is Palbociclib and letrozole ss it may affect the bone healing process.

5

It certainly is a daunting process - def worth getting expert to help you complete the paperwork .There is a thread where ladies who are on Ibrance and Letrozole are sharing information .Hope you heal well and can get on with your treatment …forum.breastcancercare.org.uk/t5/Treatments-and-medical-issues/Palbociclib/td-p/1101442/jump-to/first-unread-message

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I will get in touch with them. Thanks for your help x

7

Hi Janie,

 

I’ve recently submitted a PIP claim myself.  I spoke to MacMillan and they asked me if I wanted to claim under the Special Rules for terminal illness.  Pretty sure my nurse specialist would have signed as DS1500, which is the form you need for a terminal illness claim but I made a very conscious decision not to.

 

I have lung, liver, bone and brain mets so not great but no one has told me it’s terminal.  If it is “terminal”, my options for travelling are massively limited as insurance becomes prohibitively expensive.  Currently my employer pays for my insurance as I have work travel as well and the policy covers personal travel too.  The insurer defines terminal as less than a year to live.  Just something to consider but this was a big deal for me.

 

Getting a DS1500 completed seems to be down to the person being asked to sign it.  I know people who are really ill who haven’t been able to get this signed and others who are doing really well who have.

 

Susan