Kansas family is selling five year old's drawings to pay for his chemotherapy

[alarimer]

Words fail me. I hate this country so much.

This is what you have done you Republican pieces of shit. Anyone who denies we need single payer right now is a heartless asshole who deserves to get sick and die themselves.

(This is a link to a post on this article, not sure where the original is).

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/kansas-family-selling-five-year-olds-

[NorthCarolina]

1. It was a

Dem who pulled the plug on a Public Option, and nixed single payer from the get go. I'm not defending the GOP by any means, just pointing out that they were handed their health care victories on a silver platter...by a Dem.

[alarimer]

7. This is true and I didn't mean to absolve them of blame.

What I cannot understand is why ANYONE would be against single payer. It would cover the care for this child without the parents' having to sell their home or anything else, and it would also eliminate the need for employers to pay for health insurance for their workers, a major expense.

But I was really commenting on the Republicans and tea partiers that would shrug off stories like this, never mind that they could end up in the same place.

[NorthCarolina]

10. Any sane thinking person with even a small bone of compassion wouldn't be against it.

Now an Insurance CEO, or shareholder on the other hand. Well, lets just say that something like a PO or single payer would induce them to funnel millions into the pockets of eager legislators who are more than happy to exchange their votes for gold.

[Sienna86]

2. Sad that it's come to this, but...

very helpful idea for this family. They are doing what they need to do. I checked out Aidan's artwork at etsy.com (search under Aidans Monsters). You can also seek out his family's blog and make a donation via paypal.

[bulloney]

3. Maybe the family can pay for the chemo with some chickens like that ding-dong from Nevada suggested.

[ladywnch]

4. come on, the good and righteous rev. Huckabee has said that

people with pre-existing conditions are nothing more than an 'already burned down building' and don't deserve health insurance and he should know since he is a good, righteous, compassionate man of the cloth. And anyway, the parents have found a workable solution to pay for their sick child's treatments....problem solved. See, compassionate conservatives are right again if only you bleeding heart libruls would just acknowledge it.



(Mother F******* <and he probably was> piece of shit!!!!) :puke:

[alarimer]

8. I guess Huckabee is okay with the idea that this kid will be uninsurable for life then

If he survives this, he may never be able to get health insurance.

[catrose]

11. He also has diabetes

So I guess he doesn't deserve health insurance either.

[ladywnch]

14. there are a LOT of things he doesn't deserve! n/t

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, alarimer.

[Stargazer09]

6. He was featured on Regretsy last month

Regretsy had a bunch of donated hand knit balaclavas to auction off to help his family. Between the auctions, the purchased artwork, and the donations, Regretsy readers raised about $1700 for the boy's family.

All I could think about was how sad I am that people have to go to such great lengths to pay for healthcare in this country. Even worse, people are willing to donate to save a cute little boy, but they won't pay a little more in taxes to help save many more children.

Anyway, here's the link to one of Regretsy's stories about the fundraisers for Aiden: http://www.regretsy.com/2010/10/20/21-the-hard-way/

[alarimer]

9. I read a study somewhere that talked about people being willing to help individuals

but not willing to help many.

For some reason, people cannot seem to connect with mass tragedies in the same way that they can with individuals. That's why all those "Save the Children" ads all talk about specific kids. If they talked about all the millions of starving children, their donations would drop off.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

13. right! He's cute, white and has a high-sympathy disease

I know that sounds really bad of me to say, but there are a lot of life threatening/excrutiating/quality of life destroying diseases. That you'd never be able to get help through sympathy.

My own experience was childhood Ulcerative Colitis which nearly killed me. Trust me when I say, people can be very cruel when you have bowel problems. Thank dog it was way back when insurance was a legitimate product, and thank double dog my parents were able to afford what was called Catastrophic Insurance, and be paranoid enough to have bought it well before my symptoms started to show up.

I really cry for all the people now who have diseases that don't have heart rending telethons of cute, doomed spokes-kids.

[chill_wind]

12. K & R. Here's a link to some of his art.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AidansMonsters

(Found it in the comment section-- I don't know why it wasn't included in the story.)

edit to add this wordpress site: Aidan: An extraordinary boy's journey

http://aidforaidan.wordpress.com/