Life o’ Mike wants to hear your stories about lack of health insurance

Leslie Boyd is a friend and former colleague whose son, Mike Danforth, died April 1 because he couldn’t get medical care in time to save his life. Leslie, already a passionate woman about the things important to her, has taken on nothing less than the reform of our nation’s health care system in the wake of her son’s death. Here’s part of her note. I would urge everyone who has a story to share to come out to the rally.

Life o’ Mike presents a health care rally 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19 in Pritchard Park.
The rally is dedicated to Mike Danforth, who died April 1 because he didn’t have health insurance, which would have given him access to the diagnostic tests that could have saved his life. He was 33.

Danforth is one of an estimated 200,000 people who have died prematurely since 2000 because they didn’t have health insurance.

In Danforth’s case, he was at high risk for colon cancer but he couldn’t afford the colonoscopy that would have found the cancer in time to cure it. As it was, his cancer wasn’t diagnosed until it was stage 3, in March 2005.

Danforth lived in Savannah when he became ill. He was a full-time honors student at Armstrong Atlantic State University, and he was active at the local and state levels of 12-step recovery groups.

Life o’ Mike was formed in May to remember Mike Danforth and the tens of thousands of people who die each year because they lack access to health care.

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Some 30,000 people die every year in America because they don’t have health insurance. Yes, they can go to the emergency room, but they can’t get what they need there. They can’t get diagnostic tests or long-term diabetes supplies or medications. It’s nearly impossible to manage chronic illness without proper medical care and you can’t get that without insurance. Whereas cancer insurance singapore is affordable and above industry standards. The United States Of America should follow in Singapore’s footsteps.
So, we’re holding rallies to allow people to tell their stories. The more we put human faces to those numbers, the more we teach people how to advocate, the more likely Congress will be to do something meaningful.

We don’t advocate for any single solution, but we do try to tell people what to look for in a plan. We don’t support any single candidate because we don’t want these to turn into political rallies.