One of our Group is fighting Pancreatic Cancer

[JohnK]

Hi Volt Enthusiasts,
I've been hanging around this site as JohnK for a good little while.
The guy who got me interested in the Volt is an engineer and a friend, and a relative (my wife's nephew, Mark). He was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer a good while back (6 1/2 years), had the surgery, then proceeded to survive. During that time the Volt became known, to him at least. He was very excited about it from the start. I was moderately skeptical. He would point me to a particular article posting some particular engineering aspect of the Volt (almost always on this site). At first it seemed like I would see something only once in a while. But I noticed that almost as much as was revealed by Lyle's article, there was nearly as much contributed from the members. I was hooked. We both eventually got our Volts.

Then this past January he got the news that the cancer had come back. Conventional medicine did not offer much hope. He is still taking chemo therapy, but he is also getting treatment from holistic doctors. He is actually doing quite well. Too soon to say that he is cured, but doing much better than conventional medicine alone would offer. I hope a year from now that you will be reading a message from him that he is well. But for now he still has lots of treatments and most of the holistic treatment does not get paid for from health insurance. So we, his family and friends, are holding a fund raiser to try to help with the medical expenses.

Please consider visiting www.giveforward.com/markwagner to make a donation however small or large.

And then please, please, pass the word on to anyone who might consider helping.

Thanks for reading this,
John
Detroit area
B2506

[mwfromva]

Best of luck to you all. There's plenty of money on here (check the income thread) so hopefully folks are as generous with their wallets as they are with Volt info!

[JohnK]

Thanks. And already someone has added a contribution. Very responsive.

[DonC]

So sorry to hear about your nephew. Thanks for posting.

[Dan & Nan]

So sorry to hear about your nephew. Thanks for posting.

Agreed, good luck to him from us too.

[MTN Ranger]

As both of my parents had cancer, I feel your pain. I wish him good luck!

[islander]

I wish him the best of luck.

If he lived in ANY other industrialized county in this world he would be able to focus on healing and getting stronger. Only in the richest country in the world do you have to worry about your health care coverage!! The US healthcare industry is a crime and America is mostly selfish and a sleep at the wheel with little compassion. I'll be dead by the time we wake up.

The banksters at his for profit healtcare company should cover alternative medicine approaches. But that will not get them a profit for their share holders. His life is worth the cost, what ever it may be. I will prey he gets his strength to fight this cancer.

[KyleH]

Islander, I think something hit your soft spot (as I read further from your signature). I think the issue is holistic medicine. I am not sure other countries would cover treatment by any joe schmoe in a third world country that decides to bottle up something and sell it as medicine. I do agree that our medical system is broke, though.

If a patient also has life insurance, you may want to see if there are anyways to get an advance on the life insurance to cover some of the holistic medicine costs. The insurance underwriters are not required to do so, but some are flexibile depending on how their math adds up. (I suspect they charge outrageous fees--basically, it is just a loan with a high interest using the policy as collateral.)

-KyleH

I wish him the best of luck.

If he lived in ANY other industrialized county in this world he would be able to focus on healing and getting stronger. Only in the richest country in the world do you have to worry about your health care coverage!! The US healthcare industry is a crime and America is mostly selfish and a sleep at the wheel with little compassion. I'll be dead by the time we wake up.

The banksters at his for profit healtcare company should cover alternative medicine approaches. But that will not get them a profit for their share holders. His life is worth the cost, what ever it may be. I will prey he gets his strength to fight this cancer.

[islander]

Just as an FYI. Many other countries offer a full spectrum of healthcare including what our a$$ backwards system might call holistic.

He wouldn't have to have a bake sale to get care. I understood what the post and subsequent fundraiser site was discussing. Unfortunately, I have some experience with pancreatic cancer with a close family member. Its not pretty...
Please contribute something to the fundraiser if you can. God speed.