OPINION: A decade after my mother, Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, was killed trying to protect elementary school students in the Sandy Hook School mass shooting, I am in the middle of yet another crisis brought on by poor policy.
, I am in the middle of yet another crisis brought on by poor policy: crowdfunding to pay for my cancer treatment.
My family has already lived through the trauma of my mom being murdered in a mass shooting. I dreaded telling my five siblings that I may die early, too. I just couldn’t make the phone calls—I ended up sending them a text message, because the words were just too hard to speak. I’m expected to be on a treatment plan of radioactive iodine and chemotherapy for at least the next 12 months. And the pills are about $8,000 per round. This does not include the copays, deductibles, and non-medical expenses that my family is facing. I am on a low iodine diet, which has skyrocketed my grocery bill. I am mandated to use biohazard precautions because of the nuclear medicine that is in my body.
So, in spite of having built a public profile through a decade of advocacy, my options to pay for cancer treatment are slim.I have no issue asking people to donate to gun violence prevention work, but it’s a different feeling asking for money for yourself. To afford cancer treatment, I did what many Americans in my position do.
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