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What Dreams May Come

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Re: What Dreams May Come

#251

Post by tirant »

I feel very sorry for him, one shouldn't need to think about money when he has just (hopefully not) a few months left.

Said that, wouldn't it be cheaper for him and his family to move to an European country, and get therapy there?

In most europeans countries you just pay a low and flat rate (around 100€ a month) and you can get Cancer treatment or whatever is needed.

I really want to help him, but I hate that at the end all the money will go into the greedy american health industry.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#252

Post by eranation »

darthclue wrote: post #74

Jonathan here. Being woke up by my wife crying because the donations just aren't stopping is both heart-breaking and comforting. For those of you who haven't seen the 'Bucket List' post, here's what it says at the very top: As I try to deal with the reality that is my impending death I can't help but wonder how many things I might have been able to accomplish given just a little more time. When I was diagnosed, I had…

I'm praying for you, but besides praying, your post has triggered the following:

1) cried a little, I'm your age, with kids, wife had Thyroid cancer, close to home

2) donated to your fund, hope many more will

3) read about Melanoma, was shocked how much I didn't know

4) made an appointment with a dermatologist, I'm in the risk group apparently

5) emailed my insurance company to increase my coverage

My thoughts and prayers are with you

Re: What Dreams May Come

#253

Post by petenixey »

darthclue wrote: post #74

Jonathan here. Being woke up by my wife crying because the donations just aren't stopping is both heart-breaking and comforting. For those of you who haven't seen the 'Bucket List' post, here's what it says at the very top: As I try to deal with the reality that is my impending death I can't help but wonder how many things I might have been able to accomplish given just a little more time. When I was diagnosed, I had…

I donated earlier today and I wish you the very best.

Please also don't feel bad about taking advantage of this opportunity at the top of Hacker News and add a clear link in at the top of your blog post saying "You can donate here".

It's hard for someone scanning to see that they can donate and while there's a time and a place for being shy it would be a shame to lose out on the opportunity you have here.

Very best of luck (and please do clearly add the link) Peter

Re: What Dreams May Come

#254

Post by rbanffy »

timcederman wrote: post #220
kiba wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it a tone-deaf comment?

For most folks in this position, particularly with 4 young children, cryogenics is not exactly at the top of their priority list. Cryogenics might be an interesting "hail mary" for someone without a dependent family, but it seems crass suggesting it in this context.

If someone has the resources, it may be a last-ditch attempt to elude death. It's very unlikely someone frozen today would be able to watch his or her children grow - we don't have the technology to revive a frozen person and we don't know if it's even possible.

Then, I understand the odds are probably better if I'm frozen while alive, with minimum damage to brain tissue. It would be a hard choice to give up my last few couple hours with my family in order to undergo an uncertain procedure on the slim odds of getting resurrected decades from now.

This hits home hard for me. My father found out he had terminal cancer when my mother was 3 months into pregnancy. In the late 60's he didn't even know I was a boy. Medical science couldn't give him anything better than a less painful death. He never heard me cry and never got to hold me in his arms. He would be no better now if he were frozen when he died - he'd still be dead and would remain so for at least a good couple decades. I'm 46 and, with luck, I'll have another 46 years to live. He died at 40.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#255

Post by baby »

> Prepare for / pay for my final arrangments : $20,000

I'm not here to bash, but with so much money problem why do people want to spend so much money on their death? If I die I just want people to get rid of my body in the cheapest way possible. Just burn me or give me to science.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#257

Post by chandraonline »

toothbrush wrote: post #212
ilovecookies wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is also what I'm thinking. Yes, this is probably a terrible experience he is going through, but if people 'really' wanted to help maybe giving to a cancer research institution or donating to people that have 'real' needs, like putting food on the table or access to fresh water. Wouldnt that honestly be more fair and better than to a guy who needs to pay of his mortgage today? I mean the average time to pay of a…

Hm, unfortunately the misanthrope in me agrees with ilovecookies. My donation, too, will be going to feeding and providing basic medicine to underprivileged people, not financing some guy's huge car and 4 children in a 1st world home.

Why is this a zero sum game. Why can't you do both?

Re: What Dreams May Come

#258

Post by gesman »

melling wrote: post #12
bherms wrote: post #2

It's sad that when we find out something this devastating (you're dying), that we have to spend our last weeks/months/years worrying about, of all things, money. Nobody deserves this sort of thing happening to them, and when it does happen, it hurts me to think they can't spend their last months on earth focused on enjoying time with their loved ones and instead have to live in fear that their family is going to be a…

There are over 7 billion people on the planet. A day doesn't go by without a story like this. We just don't hear about most of them. Someday a person like this will simply go to his doctor, get a prescription, and go on to live a normal life. Rather than dwelling on sadness, maybe we should ask if there isn't something we can do, as a group, to make that day arrive sooner. What would it take to cure, or at least trea…

This:

http://c.gg/anita

If someone is too lazy to click and read - Anita healed herself completely from stage 4 cancer by dropping all fears out of her system. Then her body completely healed itself in a few weeks.

Worth spending some research dollars teaching people how to clean their inner emotional states and eliminate debilitating fears that causes sicknesses and so many deaths.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#259

Post by look_lookatme »

aestra wrote: post #176
izolate wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel for the guy, I wouldn't wish his position on anybody. But reading that list, I can't help but think he needs to learn how to sacrifice a bit. I get that he wants to take care of his finances and spend time with his family. But everything that he listed can be done for 1/5th of the cost. Get cremated, travel by bus, put everybody up in a 1 bed motel room, etc.

I think he is just comfortable with his life and can't see out of his own worldview. He believes these things are "bare necessities." This is why I have trouble relating to the middle and upper class and especially this guy. I grew up poor. Really poor. My friends in the neighborhood had to live without electricity some times because they got shut off because their parents couldn't pay the bill. I thought we were pre…

"Look up any research on happiness."

Boy we are really dialing it up to 11 in this thread.

Re: What Dreams May Come

#260

Post by fasteo »

quasque wrote: post #236
fasteo wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are right for the wrong reason. The problem with cancer research is that we are trying to solve an unsolvable problem, wasting disproportionate amounts of money. In some sense, cancer is a symptom of a body gone havoc. Research should be targeted upstream, to really tackle the root cause. It is like trying to fix a hardware issue by patching software. Yes, you can get some results by implementing better error cor…

It's not a waste of money. Therapies for certain cancers do get developed and, in conducting such research, we learn a great deal more about cell biology. Yes, the trigger for carcinogenic mutations is mostly environmental influence - some of which can be controlled and some of which can't - but that's no reason to cease funding research into the actual cellular mechanisms of cancer.

Fair enough, but I see cell biology advances as a by-product of cancer research as in "how does this cancerous cell react to this candidate drug ?" instead of "why does a healthy cell go havoc ? Why is the immune system unable to detect and destroy a cell gone havoc ?"
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