Nora - terrible lion. Forum, show your big heart once again!

Hey there, fellow Reddit users,

Instead of all this back-and-forth arguing here on the forum—let's just pool our resources together and chip in a few more dollars instead...

When you say "someone"... are you referring to Americans or people from back home?
Because if we're talking about Americans, to me, it all feels... normal? I know that sounds terrible to say, but I think we're all pretty aware that their healthcare system is incredibly unfair and that everything there is basically built on money.
I followed the press conference live, so here is how they explained those extra costs.
Basically, that $25,000 is for Nora's treatment once she arrives.
The other $13,000 covers all the checkups and therapies (and according to her mother, these will happen every three months) over the next two years. Yeah, it does leave you wondering why they weren't told that right away.
The least vague part of this whole thing is the fact that they have to pay that extra cash upfront regardless—meaning, not necessarily the second they check into the hospital, but very soon after, if I caught that correctly during the presser—within 30 days at the latest. And if that extra money hadn't shown up in their account, they wouldn't have even received the visa!!
And thirdly, this isn't the end of the story. In fact, those millions don't even include the chemotherapy Nora will be starting immediately during this first round of treatment, and nobody even knows yet how much that is going to cost.

All in all, it makes your head spin when you add up the costs, especially when you realize that isn't even the final figure😲 just for the medical care itself. I'm not even factoring in the secondary expenses (travel, living in the States...)—honestly, it's overwhelming.
I believe that if this were happening at some European clinic, or even a clinic somewhere else in the world besides the US, the total sum would be far, far smaller.
And I don't think anyone is getting rich or profiting here except for the American pharmaceutical corporations. To them, no one's life—not even a child's life—really matters. It's only about the dollars.

Peter Doyle2 said:When you say "someone"... are you referring to Americans or people from back home?
Because if we're talking about Americans, to me, it all feels... normal? I know that sounds terrible to say, but I think we're all pretty aware that their healthcare system is incredibly unfair and that everything there is basically built on money.
I followed the press conference live, so here is how they explained those extra costs.
Basically, that $25,000 is for Nora's treatment once she arrives.
The other $13,000 covers all the checkups and therapies (and according to her mother, these will happen every three months) over the next two years. Yeah, it does leave you wondering why they weren't told that right away.
The least vague part of this whole thing is the fact that they have to pay that extra cash upfront regardless—meaning, not necessarily the second they check into the hospital, but very soon after, if I caught that correctly during the presser—within 30 days at the latest. And if that extra money hadn't shown up in their account, they wouldn't have even received the visa!!
And thirdly, this isn't the end of the story. In fact, those millions don't even include the chemotherapy Nora will be starting immediately during this first round of treatment, and nobody even knows yet how much that is going to cost.

All in all, it makes your head spin when you add up the costs, especially when you realize that isn't even the final figure😲 just for the medical care itself. I'm not even factoring in the secondary expenses (travel, living in the States...)—honestly, it's overwhelming.
I believe that if this were happening at some European clinic, or even a clinic somewhere else in the world besides the US, the total sum would be far, far smaller.
And I don't think anyone is getting rich or profiting here except for the American pharmaceutical corporations. To them, no one's life—not even a child's life—really matters. It's only about the dollars.

Actually, I totally misspoke. 🤦 When I read that this morning, that was just my first thought and I reacted emotionally. It wasn't until later that I went to look into the details.
Based on what people are saying over on Reddit, I doubt the Americans are going to get overly rich off this—at least not the hospital. It actually seems like a pretty realistic cost by their standards.

I followed the press conference live, so here’s how they explained that extra cost.
Basically, those 3.3 million is for Nora's treatment once she arrives.
The other 1.7 million is for all the checkups and therapies (and according to her mother, these happen every three months) over the next two years. Yeah, it leaves the question of why they didn't mention this right away.

I think the issue with the extra cost is that the original quote was from 2010. They kept referring back to that, so maybe they didn't even bother asking for a new quote or checking if anything had changed.

But they definitely should have mentioned it sooner, instead of letting sensationalism take over and having the news convince everyone for half a day that "evil" Americans hiked up the price overnight when the fault lies on both sides.

What's actually most absurd about this whole thing is the fact that they still have to pay this extra money upfront (meaning not the exact second they check into the hospital, but soon—if I heard correctly at the press conference, within 30 days at the latest) and if that extra money hadn't been seen in their account, they wouldn't have gotten the visa at all!!

Yeah, true. The American immigration system is pretty rigorous, and I believe that was more about the visa than the hospital itself.

And thirdly, this isn't the end of it. Those millions don't even include the chemotherapy Nora will be receiving immediately during this first round of treatment, and nobody even knows how much that's going to cost yet.

Well, now, I don't know. From what I gathered, I think it's included. Though, there are still plenty of "ifs" and "buts," so it's hard to predict what else might come up.

😲Honestly, your head just spins when you see the total bill, especially when you realize that isn't even the final number.
I haven't even factored in all the extra costs—travel, living expenses here in the States... it's just overwhelming. It makes my head ache. I truly believe if this were happening at a clinic in Europe, or anywhere else outside the US, the final amount would be way, way lower.

I don't know. What really breaks my heart about all of this is that there's no guarantee she'll actually get better. This is just giving her one more shot. 😢
No matter how you look at it, I don't think this is the last we'll hear about this issue.

And I don't think anyone is going to get rich or profit from this except for the big American pharmaceutical corporations. To them, nobody's life matters—not even a child's life. All they care about is the bottom line.

Yeah. That's the worst part. Almost every other company in the world funds their own experimental treatments. But in America? Patients still foot the bill for experimental care. Sure, maybe the drug itself is "free," but you're still paying for the treatment. It’s just a trick.

If you're one of those people who wants to "donate" a buck just by hitting a like button on Facebook, go ahead and like this—or share it if you're feeling extra generous.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=1&theater

http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...02253891_n.jpg

"Our yellow heart is beating especially hard these days for little Nora Šitum, and for all the future Noras out there. For every single like you give, the Đakovo handball club will deposit one dollar into the 'Brave Child' association's account!"

brightpuma, the chemo costs aren't even included in the total. They mentioned this right at the end of the press conference—talking about a "third portion of the bill"—and they immediately noted that nobody actually knows what those extra expenses will look like yet. I guess it all depends on how Nora's body reacts to the treatment, so her dosage might vary, making it impossible to predict the final cost. Man... honestly, even without that, the total amount is dizzying. And we're talking about leukemia, where chemotherapy is, you know, just standard procedure. So, hearing that the chemo ISN'T included? That’s a massive shocker.
which brings us back to that famous topic... Americans. 🙄

And what is there even to say about it? I mean, if we can't manage to establish order or justice in our own little corner of the world with its 4 million souls, why bother being outraged by bad Americans and their broken system? It's not like a million Noras would change anything, unfortunately. 😢
This is going to sound awful, I know... but God, if anyone of us or our loved ones ever falls that sick, the best we can hope for is that our only cure isn't located in America. 😢

To wrap this all up: as wonderful as the drive for Nora has been—warming all our hearts and providing a sense of hope that we so, so desperately lack in this country—and as much as we all stood together for Nora... there are just too many things leaving a nasty, bitter taste in my mouth. Everything from the mess in our own country all the way to Philadelphia.

I just want to thank everyone who supported the campaign and took part in it.
Let's hope for the establishment of a foundation, the removal of sales tax on humanitarian efforts, and above all, that actual change to the law they discussed at the press conference.
Because every single life—not just a child's—is far more important and precious than every damn bridge, arena, fountain, or stadium out there.

Peter Doyle2 said:brightpuma, the chemo costs aren't even included in the total. They mentioned this right at the end of the press conference—talking about a "third portion of the bill"—and they immediately noted that nobody actually knows what those extra expenses will look like yet. I guess it all depends on how Nora's body reacts to the treatment, so her dosage might vary, making it impossible to predict the final cost. Man... honestly, even without that, the total amount is dizzying. And we're talking about leukemia, where chemotherapy is, you know, just standard procedure. So, hearing that the chemo ISN'T included? That’s a massive shocker.
which brings us back to that famous topic... Americans. 🙄

And what is there even to say about it? I mean, if we can't manage to establish order or justice in our own little corner of the world with its 4 million souls, why bother being outraged by bad Americans and their broken system? It's not like a million Noras would change anything, unfortunately. 😢
This is going to sound awful, I know... but God, if anyone of us or our loved ones ever falls that sick, the best we can hope for is that our only cure isn't located in America. 😢

To wrap this all up: as wonderful as the drive for Nora has been—warming all our hearts and providing a sense of hope that we so, so desperately lack in this country—and as much as we all stood together for Nora... there are just too many things leaving a nasty, bitter taste in my mouth. Everything from the mess in our own country all the way to Philadelphia.

I just want to thank everyone who supported the campaign and took part in it.
Let's hope for the establishment of a foundation, the removal of sales tax on humanitarian efforts, and above all, that actual change to the law they discussed at the press conference.
Because every single life—not just a child's—is far more important and precious than every damn bridge, arena, fountain, or stadium out there.

I agree with most of that, except for the bolded part. A fund like that already exists. Actually, there are two. They're called basic and supplemental health insurance.
Plus, wouldn't we just be wondering when some politician would try to take control of that fund? 🙄

A discussion like this really doesn't belong here on the Prosecutor's page, so feel free to move the conversation over to another PDF thread instead. 🙂