"Growth" Spurt Gone Wrong
Donation protected
I don't remember that picture being taken. But there I am, two weeks before Christmas, hopped up on powerful painkillers, cuddling a teddybear, wearing a Santa hat. It sure looks like we were having a blast.
Truth be told, the moment that picture was taken, no one in the room realized what had just happened. We all thought my appendix had been removed and I was about to spend one night at the hosptial and then embark on a moderate, but manageable, physical and financial recovery. Shortly after that picture was taken my friends all left and I dozed off to sleep. When I awoke the next morning, and the doctor walked into the room with a too-serious-for-the-occassion look on his face, I knew something was wrong. Then he asked, "Is there a history of colon cancer in your family?"
Dear Friends and Family,
I need your help.
As many of you already know, in December, I underwent a significant surgery. I had a grapefruit-sized tumour removed from my stomach. Along with the mass came attached parts of my colon, bowel and small intestine. I'm blessed to say, that despite the initial diagnosis of my doctor, the growth was cancer-free and innocous.
If I was currently living in Canada, this would be a fading story, where I'd be thankful for my good fortune and the amazing friends and family who cared for me and helped me recover. Unfortunately, I live in the USA. And I've gotten caught up in this country's notoriously expensive health care system. I owe a lot of money. $23,000 USD ($30,000 CDN) to be exact. This amount, shockingly, does not include the money I've already paid to the surgeon for operating ($4000 USD) and other follow up procedures in the past few months ($2000 USD).
Ever wonder why it's so expensive? Or how it all adds up in the US? Here's one of four pages of my itemized bill. 279 things, yeah I counted, were done to me over the course of five days.
In my time living in the US, just under three years, I made a grave error: I didn't sign up for Obamacare. As a freelance journalist, I'm not afforded healthcare at work. I naively assumed I could escape drastic medical emergencies and hold off until I was offered a full contract, with full benefits. This proved to be a terrible mistake, one I will never make again. I want you to know that before donating and I want you to also know that I'm not trying to fundraise the entire amount. I am responsible for the outcome of this mistake. I am working hard to pay this bill off before interest begins to incur. Today, I am fully insured and protected from exactly this kind of nasty occurence.
However, I also want you to know, that this bill would not be so gigantic had I been properly diagnosed before I went under the knife. Following a doctor's visit, a CT scan and second opinion from the doctor who performed the surgery, I was told my appendix was inflamed and had to be removed immediately. I begged my doctor to allow me to travel to the Canadian border and seek immediate treatment. He refused. And I obliged, unwilling to take the risk. For the presumed appendix surgery, the total cost was projected at around $8-10 thousand. I was horrified, but had no choice.
After 4.5 hours on the operating table, completely unaware of what was transpiring, I awoke to discover that my routine procedure had morphed into a $30,000-you-had-a-mass-removed-from-your-stomach-you-might-have-colon-cancer-5-nights-in-a-hospital-bed ordeal. Had I known all that, had I known the magnitude of what was about to happen, I would likely have made a run for the border. But I didn't get to make that choice.
Here's my final pathology report. Note the pre-operative diagnosis and post-operative diagnosis. According to my doctor, all the experts who studied it were dumbfounded by the specimen. They had never seen anything like it. All they knew, luckily, was that it was cancer free.
Since the operation, I've been fighting tremendously hard to have these bills reduced. I applied at the state-level and internally within the hosptial. As of last week, I learned that I was denied on both fronts. I've been resisting setting up this page because I really wanted to pay off this bill alone.
I'll be forever grateful to the amazing care I received at the hosptial. I know I'm lucky to be cancer free. I'm lucky to be gainfully employed in Washington, DC. And I'm lucky to be nearing full physical recovery. But this bill, coupled with my student loans and expenses in DC, are a burden that is becoming hard to bear.
My close friend, Aws, and me doing laps of the hosptial ward. He spent several nights with me and was the first person to make me laugh extremely hard, when my stomach incision was super raw. Thanks, man! Pain for pleasure, I guess. Click here to read the lede that made my freshly sewn up stomach nearly burst back open.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and considering a donation.
If there's anything you can give to help me defeat this bill, I would forever be grateful for your contribution. If you have additional questions, please feel free to email me through this site. I'm happy to answer anything.
All the best,
Ryan Kohls
Truth be told, the moment that picture was taken, no one in the room realized what had just happened. We all thought my appendix had been removed and I was about to spend one night at the hosptial and then embark on a moderate, but manageable, physical and financial recovery. Shortly after that picture was taken my friends all left and I dozed off to sleep. When I awoke the next morning, and the doctor walked into the room with a too-serious-for-the-occassion look on his face, I knew something was wrong. Then he asked, "Is there a history of colon cancer in your family?"
Dear Friends and Family,
I need your help.
As many of you already know, in December, I underwent a significant surgery. I had a grapefruit-sized tumour removed from my stomach. Along with the mass came attached parts of my colon, bowel and small intestine. I'm blessed to say, that despite the initial diagnosis of my doctor, the growth was cancer-free and innocous.
If I was currently living in Canada, this would be a fading story, where I'd be thankful for my good fortune and the amazing friends and family who cared for me and helped me recover. Unfortunately, I live in the USA. And I've gotten caught up in this country's notoriously expensive health care system. I owe a lot of money. $23,000 USD ($30,000 CDN) to be exact. This amount, shockingly, does not include the money I've already paid to the surgeon for operating ($4000 USD) and other follow up procedures in the past few months ($2000 USD).
Ever wonder why it's so expensive? Or how it all adds up in the US? Here's one of four pages of my itemized bill. 279 things, yeah I counted, were done to me over the course of five days.
In my time living in the US, just under three years, I made a grave error: I didn't sign up for Obamacare. As a freelance journalist, I'm not afforded healthcare at work. I naively assumed I could escape drastic medical emergencies and hold off until I was offered a full contract, with full benefits. This proved to be a terrible mistake, one I will never make again. I want you to know that before donating and I want you to also know that I'm not trying to fundraise the entire amount. I am responsible for the outcome of this mistake. I am working hard to pay this bill off before interest begins to incur. Today, I am fully insured and protected from exactly this kind of nasty occurence.
However, I also want you to know, that this bill would not be so gigantic had I been properly diagnosed before I went under the knife. Following a doctor's visit, a CT scan and second opinion from the doctor who performed the surgery, I was told my appendix was inflamed and had to be removed immediately. I begged my doctor to allow me to travel to the Canadian border and seek immediate treatment. He refused. And I obliged, unwilling to take the risk. For the presumed appendix surgery, the total cost was projected at around $8-10 thousand. I was horrified, but had no choice.
After 4.5 hours on the operating table, completely unaware of what was transpiring, I awoke to discover that my routine procedure had morphed into a $30,000-you-had-a-mass-removed-from-your-stomach-you-might-have-colon-cancer-5-nights-in-a-hospital-bed ordeal. Had I known all that, had I known the magnitude of what was about to happen, I would likely have made a run for the border. But I didn't get to make that choice.
Here's my final pathology report. Note the pre-operative diagnosis and post-operative diagnosis. According to my doctor, all the experts who studied it were dumbfounded by the specimen. They had never seen anything like it. All they knew, luckily, was that it was cancer free.
Since the operation, I've been fighting tremendously hard to have these bills reduced. I applied at the state-level and internally within the hosptial. As of last week, I learned that I was denied on both fronts. I've been resisting setting up this page because I really wanted to pay off this bill alone.
I'll be forever grateful to the amazing care I received at the hosptial. I know I'm lucky to be cancer free. I'm lucky to be gainfully employed in Washington, DC. And I'm lucky to be nearing full physical recovery. But this bill, coupled with my student loans and expenses in DC, are a burden that is becoming hard to bear.
My close friend, Aws, and me doing laps of the hosptial ward. He spent several nights with me and was the first person to make me laugh extremely hard, when my stomach incision was super raw. Thanks, man! Pain for pleasure, I guess. Click here to read the lede that made my freshly sewn up stomach nearly burst back open.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and considering a donation.
If there's anything you can give to help me defeat this bill, I would forever be grateful for your contribution. If you have additional questions, please feel free to email me through this site. I'm happy to answer anything.
All the best,
Ryan Kohls
Organizer
Ryan Kohls
Organizer
Washington D.C., DC