When Treatment Doesn’t Fit in the Hours We Have

I often think about a serious illness diagnosis as a pie chart problem.

Before diagnosis, your pie already accounts for every waking hour of your day: work, kids, caregiving, household tasks, relationships, rest (or lack of it).

Then a diagnosis hits.

And suddenly, you’re asked to fit a full-time job called treatment into a pie where there was no empty space to begin with.

If we don’t remove anything from that original pie, something has to give. And more often than not, it’s sleep, mental health, or the ability to simply be human.

But when we intentionally offload some of the pre-diagnosis responsibilities, such as meals, errands, childcare, cleaning, financial stress, the pie stays balanced. And when the pie is balanced, outcomes improve.

Because people can focus on healing.

Every pie looks different. Some people keep working. Some are caring for kids or aging parents. Some are doing all three. That’s exactly the point.

Whole-person care only works when we account for all of a person’s time, not just their treatment plan.

Many of us agree with this in theory. At GiftWellSoon, we’re working to rebalance the pie by helping communities offload everyday tasks so patients and caregivers can focus on healing, not logistics.

Want to help us build this thoughtfully?

We’re currently looking for beta users to try the first version of GiftWellSoon.com. These will be hands-on, high-touch beta experiences where we personally walk you through the platform, listen closely to your feedback, and learn what truly helps (and what doesn’t).

If you, or someone you love, is navigating illness, recovery, or caregiving and this resonates, we’d love to connect.

Sometimes the most powerful form of care isn’t doing more, it's making space.