Ten years after my mother, Dawn Rafferty Hochsprung, was murdered in the Sandy Hook School shooting while trying to protect an elementary school student, I am now in the throes of crowdfunding to pay for cancer treatment. We are in the midst of a new crisis brought on by a new policy.
In late March, I was diagnosed with stage II lymphoma, a primary orbital tumor, and a sizeable precancerous mass in two lymph nodes. I wouldn’t have understood what most of the last sentence meant until I was diagnosed. now i know That means he may not live past his 38th birthday without aggressive treatment.
This diagnosis came as a shock to me. Since 2014, I have been noticing a small stain behind my left eye, and I have been going to the eye doctor regularly for 9 years to have the stain measured. it was always the same. We thought it was scar tissue. That changed in December of last year. Fourteen weeks later, after many tests, I was diagnosed with cancer.
My family has already gone through the trauma of my mother being killed in a mass shooting. I was afraid to tell my five siblings that I might die prematurely too. Ended up sending a text his message because I couldn’t make a call and the words were too difficult.
Before I knew it, I was on the phone with doctors, pharmacies, insurance companies, and health advocates to figure out what was covered and what wasn’t. After numerous appeals and discussions with the medical review board, my medical team decided that the “conservative” estimate of out-of-pocket costs would be $60,000, but more realistically, $100,000 would be sufficient for medical care. I said I would be in little or no debt.
My head was spinning when I heard that number.
I thought I had great health insurance. However, I was told that my chemotherapy was not covered by insurance at all.
This is because its main function is to treat stage 0 (precancerous) masses.I was told it wasn’t If These lumps turn into cancer, which when Chemo drugs that could have saved my life are not covered by insurance.
I will be on a treatment regimen with radioactive iodine and chemotherapy for at least the next 12 months. And the pills are about $8,000 per dose. This does not include copays, deductibles or non-medical costs my family faces. Grocery bills are skyrocketing because I practice a low iodine diet. Due to the use of nuclear medicine on my body, it is mandatory to use biohazard precautions (toothbrush, linen, utensils, etc. for his one-time use).
I have spent the last decade fighting for stronger gun control and holding the NRA and its allies to account. After losing her mother, this job was all I wanted to do, and it covers my living expenses, but not enough to cover my medical bills.
Who thinks I don’t have to work after seeing the headlines that Alex Jones was ordered to pay over $1 billion to Sandy Hook’s family for defaming them with vile lies? There may be But I haven’t seen a penny of that money, and I probably won’t see it for years.
As a result, my options for paying for cancer treatment are limited, despite the public attention I’ve gained through a decade of advocacy.
Asking people to donate to gun violence prevention is fine, but asking for money for yourself is a different feeling. To pay for cancer treatment, I did what many Americans in my position did.started go fund me To crowdsource funding for my life-saving medical care.
This is the sad reality of healthcare in America, and even those who are fortunate enough to have adequate insurance end up taking “out-of-network” or uninsured medications, resulting in lifelong medical costs. will be paid. It is a disgusting fact that insurance companies, not doctors, can decide what counts as life-saving medicine.
Luckily, I’m getting closer to my crowdfunding goal. But I know that if I can get through this without leaving a lot of debt, it’s all thanks to her mother, Dawn Rafferty Hochsprung. My mother died a hero. She was barely over five feet tall, but when a man with a gun walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School, where she was principal, she charged at him. Now, 10 years after her death, she may save another life – mine. Most of her donations I have received come from people who want to honor her.
I never thought that “good things” would come out of my mother’s murder. But the simple fact is, if she hadn’t been killed, I wouldn’t have had the money to live on.
But your mother doesn’t have to be murdered in a horribly high-profile mass shooting to raise the funds you need to save your life.
I am at the crossroads of two uniquely American crises. Ten years ago, my life was forever changed by gun violence. Now things have changed again with a health care system that allows insurance companies to put shareholders before my survival. We all deserve to be better at both.
here is the link Erica’s GoFundMecontains the latest medical and treatment information.
