More about Mike
I’ve had people tell me that Mike didn’t have insurance because he made bad choices. They’ve said if he had done everything right as a teenager he would have had a job that offered insurance.
I have to admit, Mike made some bad choices as a teenager. He became addicted to drugs and alcohol. But he sobered up when he was 22 and spent the rest of his life “chasing drunks,” helping people get and stay sober.
He was a chef and he worked late many nights, so he often came in at the end of meetings, but everyone tells me they knew if Mike showed up it would be a good meeting. He had an insight that nobody else seemed to have, and he often chose newcomers’ meetings because he knew that’s where he was needed.
As for not having insurance, most restaurants don’t pay their employees’ health benefits. He had a talent with food, so he was able to work and make a living even while he was in school — he was an honors student in his junior year of college when he got sick.
So, did he not deserve to survive because he did stupid things before he was 22? Should stupid choices before you have the maturity to know their consequences mean you should suffer and die?
Of course, he probably would have been rejected for employer-sponsored insurance because the birth defect he had left him vulnerable to both kidney infections and cancer. He would have had to pay a fortune for private insurance.
It wasn’t about choices. It never is, unless you’re talking about the choice of big business not to take care of people and the choice of legislators not to make big business do the right thing.
Tags: Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a new peer support program for people newly diagnosed with chronic or serious illness or with a new disability and their caregivers.
Patient Pals are people who have experience with various illnesses and disabilities, who can help someone newly diagnosed or with a new disability work through the fear, frustration, confusion and grief often experienced in the first few months.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
People with new illness or disability fare better when they have a role model -- someone who can help them negotiate their new path in life.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
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