In June of last year my partner, Chad Schild, was diagnosed with ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia), a fatal cancer of the white blood cells. Like 47 million other Americans, he did not have health insurance. Fortunately he was treated with intensive chemotherapy in the hospital over the next few months. At the time of his emergency admittance, Chad’s life was severely threatened, but his strength and unwavering desire to live helped him surpass all odds and in August he was released from the hospital where he would continue with outpatient chemotherapy treatments well into 2008.

His odds of survival improving with each treatment, he began to step back and face the enormous financial repercussions of his illness. Due to his inability to work and subsequent lack of income, Chad was granted health insurance through the Oregon Health Plan. Naturally, he also applied for social security benefits to help with everyday living expenses. A month after his first social security check, he received a letter in the mail notifying him of the termination of his health insurance. Had he known, or received advanced notice that social security benefits would be considered as income and disqualify him from receiving health insurance under the Oregon Health Plan, he wouldn’t have applied in the first place. We never could have logically anticipated this event because the cost of leukemia makes health insurance an absolute necessity, yet the process of treatment renders one far too sick to work. It was quite a blow to discover that it was more than just the cancer working against us.

We never did manage to find a way to get Chad the coverage he needed. For a while, he continued to make a steady recovery and our concerns about health insurance lessened.

Sadly, this week Chad relapsed into leukemia. He is again undergoing intensive, in-patient chemotherapy treatments in hopes of challenging the cancer into a second remission, at which point we can obtain the only procedure that will save his life—a bone marrow transplant. Without health insurance he is being denied this extremely expensive procedure by every facility we’ve contacted.

Alone, the thought of losing him is intolerable. But the possibility of losing him solely because he doesn’t have health insurance pains me beyond words. At thirty-six, Chad is young, and loved by many. Those who care for him have been endlessly impressed by his strength, optimism and unrelenting resilience. I refuse to believe that he could be denied the chance to live because of a glitch in the system. I am reaching out to anyone and everyone that may be of assistance. Please forward this message to doctors, hospitals, the media and/or any other resource that may be willing to help.

This story is being written right now: please, help us transform what could be just another anecdote about a long-failing healthcare system into a message of hope for the future. 

Thank you for listening.

— Alina