Fucked Up, or What?

Chuck Schuldiner

Chuck Schuldiner, guitarist/vocalist for the metal band Death, died in 2001 at the age of 34, from a potine glioma, a tumor that invades the brain stem. This may have been inevitable. What should not have been inevitable is the difficulty he had in receiving treatment. The necessary operations to eradicate the tumor as quickly as possible would have cost around $70,000 and this was more than Chuck and his family could afford to pay. His insurance refused to contribute because the tumor was a pre-existing condition. He was able to get one surgery but was initially denied further treatment due to lack of funds. Fundraising effort on the part of many musicians enabled him to get further treatment.

Chuck is just one among many persons who are denied possible life-saving or life-extending cancer treatments due to lack of funds. NOBODY SHOULD BE DENIED TREATMENT FOR CANCER DUE TO INABILITY TO PAY! I hope this greivous injustice is one of the things that the current administration will work on fixing.