There aren't enough thanks in the world for everyone who responded to my Monday diary about my brother Alan. The past 45 hours have changed a lot of landscape because of your comments, suggestions, resource links, and contributions to the ChipIn account that betson08 (of Pretty Bird Woman House fame!) suggested.
E-mails have come from literally all over the world with information and offers of assistance. In just 45 hours, we've raised more than $2,500 via the ChipIn site and other contributions. A friend is helping me send the money via a Visa gift card and payment on account at my brother's pharmacy and the local grocery store. Others are sending him birthday cards (he turns 47 on June 30).
Thanks to suggestions about prescription assistance programs, my sister-in-law Cathy is putting together a comprehensive list of Alan's medications so we can apply for free or reduced-price meds.
I'm not sure Alan will opt for spinal surgery, and he definitely doesn't want more radiation. But the fact that he can get his family through the summer gives him more time to mull over options. And, thanks to this overwhelming response from Kossacks, he actually has some options. I can't even begin to tell you how radically you have changed the lives of our entire family.
As all of us know, Alan's situation is no longer the exception but the rule in the U.S. Many Kossacks shared their own circumstances and the experiences of friends and family. My heart and hope go out to each of them.
We can readily recite the statistics and terms:
18,000 people in the U.S. die each year because they don't have coverage for the care they need
more than 50 million Americans are uninsured or inadequately insured
nearly 12% of children in the U.S. are uninsured
medical tourism" has become a recognized euphemism for the industry of finding resources for medical refugees from the U.S. corporate health-care system
That's millions of diaries much like mine, millions of families on the brink of collapse because they cannot afford access to the care they need. People who believe they have to not only leave their hometowns but their home country in order to stay alive. People who see suicide as a sensible option not for a dignified death but for a way to keep their families from utter ruin.
We need universal health care.
In the meantime, perhaps we can find a way to help those who need it. An "Edge of the World Kossack Data Bank," perhaps, that can replicate the principles of microcredit programs and provide resources and information.
What do you think?
Once again, thank you for this overwhelming generosity. I've hardly slept the past two nights -- not because of worry that nothing can be done but because there's so much that can be done, thanks to this brilliant orange family.