Staff o’ Mike
Leslie
I’m Leslie Boyd. I was Mike’s mom. His life brought me incredible joy, and his death leaves a hole in my heart that will never heal.
I promised Mike before he died that his death would bring about something positive, so I am trying to collect the stories of people who have lost loved ones because they didn’t have insurance and couldn’t get the treatment they needed.
That number is 45,000 a year and doesn’t include the people who die because one in five insurance claims in this country is denied by the insurance companies. The sad thing is that every one of those people meant as much to someone as Mike meant to me and all the other people in his life.
I was a veteran newspaper reporter when I decided to leave and do this advocacy full-time. I covered social justice issues for more than 25 years. I wrote about the issue of health insurance since 1992, when there were only 16 million people who didn’t have health insurance.
Today more than 50 million people don’t have health insurance. Millions more have coverage that leaves them thousands of dollars in debt every time they have any illness that requires hospitalization or surgery.
I want to put faces on these statistics.
Janet
I’m Janet Danforth, designer and webmaster for Life o’ Mike. My design shows different aspects of Mike. The plaid is for the flannel pajama pants he wore most of his last few years. Blues and greens were two of his favorite colors. He enjoyed working on black and white photos in the darkroom when he took a college photography class.
Mike and I were married for nearly seven years. Even though we were divorced, we were still very close. After all, I was his favorite ex-wife. I spent his last few weeks at his bedside helping Leslie take care of him. It’s still difficult for me to realize that he’s really gone. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of him and be halfway to the phone to call him before I remember.
To be as young as we were, and facing the possibility of your imminent death on top of college and money struggles is just too much for most people to deal with. When you’re a full-time student just trying to make enough money to pay your rent, expensive medical procedures just aren’t a priority. I wouldn’t wish what Mike went through on my greatest enemy.
That’s why I’m helping Leslie create this site: so no one else has to go through what we did.
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Second annual Eat at Mike’s
Reserve now
Life o' Mike sponsors its second annual Eat at Mike's, an evening of good food prepared by local chefs, at Tingles Cafe in downtown Asheville. The event also features silent and live auctions with items from Highlands Brewing, artist Angela C. Alexander and more.
Tickets to the dinner are $25; $20 for children 3-12 and free for children under 3.
To reserve, e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com. For more information, call 828-243-6712.
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.
Mrs Boyd
I seen your story on the news last night and was very moved. I know what Mike went through. Im trying to get help for a couple major medical issues and every where I turn I hit a dead end. I’ve filed for SSI and Medicade but I keep getting turned down. I guess they will approve me once Im passed on to be with the Lord. If I can help you in any way let me know.. I would love to do something to help keep Mikes memory alive here in the mountains..
Blessings
George
George, if you live here in Buncombe County, please go to one of the free clinics and see if they can get you help through Project Access. If you’d like, you can e-mail me at lifeomike@gmail.com and I’ll see if I can help you get some care.