I am collecting stories about Americans with cancer whose lives are being negatively impacted by the haphazard, thoughtless and draconian cuts instituted by Musk, Trump and DOGE. The first installment posted two days ago highlighted the heartbreaking story of a promising, life-saving breast cancer treatment clinical trial that was halted abruptly last week leaving patients in limbo. Here is that story:
As someone who has been dealing with Stage 4 prostate cancer (metastatic to the spine) for more than 10 years, I am alarmed that we are facing severe cuts to federal scientific research funding, including cancer research. I am still alive today thanks to the dedication and hard work of some of the finest cancer researchers and oncologists in the world who rely on federal grants to support their research. Musk, Trump and their vicious underlings are busy killing people, both here and abroad, with their cruel slashing of critical, life-saving funding.
My purpose with collecting these cancer stories is to shed light on this vile cruelty. I will be publishing pieces as I find stories, and, sadly, I expect that I will have no trouble finding more horrific examples.
This story below was published yesterday in Task & Purpose, a conservative-leaning online publication for military veterans. It details the story of Navy vet Kyle Lewis who is being kept alive by an experimental cancer treatment that has been halted dues to the cuts made by Musk, Trump and DOGE.
Navy veteran Kyle Lewis, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer in 2020, says federal research cuts means he can no longer access his experimental cancer treatment.
By Patty NIeberg
In the wake of cuts to federal research funding, a Navy veteran diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer will not be able to receive an experimental treatment that he says extended his life after doctors gave him “weeks” to live in 2020.
“As of right now, I cannot receive the same drugs that I received before, the ones that saved my life,” Kyle Lewis, who served in the Navy from 1999 to 2003, told Task & Purpose. “A lot of the tumors, lesions on my organs are all still there and this drug has sort of been keeping them at bay. The data that exists now says there’s an 80% chance that my cancer will come back within the next year or so.”
But Kyle is not just thinking about himself. He’s thinking about the children with cancer that he sees when he goes for treatment, children who may see their own life-extending, life-saving treatments crushed by DOGE cruelty. Here's what Kyle had to stay about these developments:
“I have been through some shit in this life of mine, and Stage 4 cancer was not even the hardest,” Lewis said. “I go into my appointments and the most gut-wrenching thing for me is to see kids with cancer or kids with life-threatening diseases. That is what’s not fair. That is horrible and to know that these kids’ treatment is at risk now because of the slashes to medical research, that is crushing to me. I can’t fathom how anyone would be OK with that.”
Kyle is spot-on. How can anyone be okay with that?
I will continue to publish these stories when I find them. Please repost these stories on other platforms to spread the world. Cancer knows no boundaries, political or otherwise. Musk, Trump and DOGE need to be called out for deep, deep cruelty.
