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I lost my house to cancer. Sort of. 

It’s true, I was a homeowner, but every story is more nuanced than a simple headline. 

But isn’t that the way with life? Our brains have a way of simplifying situations and people into neat little boxes. A sound bite of the actual truth. We do this in politics too. I’ve seen it happen time and time again where there will be days worth of discussion on a complex topic only to have it condensed into an easy-to-digest sound bite for the public. 

The nuance behind my home ownership is that I co-owned with a family member, sold the place for a profit, and found a rental to save monthly while my husband at the time went to school. The plan was to use our savings from our house sale and year of renting to buy a house ourselves. But then cancer happened. 

I couldn’t work consistently for almost two years. We had added expenses with prescription costs, travel, hospital parking, and childcare, all while experiencing a loss of income. We ended up using our savings to get through those very tough times. We eventually got my husband through his schooling, but we decided to go our separate ways. 

I restarted my financial life from scratch at 33 years old as a single mother working........

© Georgia Straight