Terry Brady

PCDCC Member and Chair of the Foothills Coalition For Universal Healthcare

While the details of AB1400 spell out the goals of providing “universal insurance”, it’s still an abstract concept and the challenges of survival often leave other devastating choices. Many of us, or someone we know, has faced medical circumstances with little or no way to pay for their care. The choices can become few and frightening. PCDCC Member Terry Brady recalls the following story involving his nephew Evan:

Evan was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood Leukemia at the age of 11. Luckily, his father worked for an insurance company and had excellent medical insurance. Evan needed multiple bone marrow transplants to survive. After the first transplant most of the major childhood cancer centers refused to do the transplant saying it “wasn’t worth it.” The only facility that would agree to do it was the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance where he had his first transplant. He was lucky that SCCA agreed to do the 2nd transplant, but…should treatment rely on luck?

As a result of receiving the treatment, he has been able to graduate college and is now 28 years old. However, he still struggles from many side effects of both the disease and the impact of two full body irradiations. He has a breathing tube and struggles with secondary cancers that show up unexpectedly. Total costs continue to increase with all the secondary hospitalizations, the most recent being several days in the hospital right before Christmas caused by throat bleeding around his breathing tube and the need for blood transfusions.

Bottom line… were it not for his father’s insurance and a strong family support system, his survival would have been more problematic, and his family would have lost everything financially. They are still at risk of having to file bankruptcy as they face his ongoing needs. They have had various fundraisers to build financial support to assist with his future needs that the insurance does not cover.

And…should survival be determined by a price tag?