Sick girl wants her parents at the hospital, why aren't they there?

DavidC · #1 11-17-2005, 08:57 PM

I'm at a greasy spoon, and I see a poster about a local girl with leukemia who's on chemo and she's upset because her parents work instead of spending time with her at the hospital. The poster asks for donations so that her parents can stay at the hospital with her.

I can understand the girl being upset that her parents work.

One of the pictures shows her holding a balloon or something like that. In the background is the tail of a minivan. She's 4.

But here's what bothers me about the poster:

I see her in front of a minivan that doesn't look totally run down (at least, the tail end of it), and I ask myself...

"Have her parents sold the car?"

"Have they sold the house?"

"Have they quit one of their jobs, to work a night job, so that they can take shifts with her?"

etc.

I mean, if someone wrote a poster and it said, "Hi. I have a sick kid, and I'd love to spend time in the hospital with her, but I don't want to sell my house." Would you help out?

I mean, if they said, "If I were to sell my car and buy a cheaper car, I'd lose like $3000 on the deal." I'd ask them what was more important, the money or the girl...

I would help them if they were a friend, but if they're a stranger, it kinda feels like you're being a sucker by helping them.

Obviously, I don't know the whole story, but these are my initial impressions.

Anyone have any comments?
--Dave.

lastchance · #2 11-17-2005, 09:04 PM

The treatment for childhood Leukemia is probably not very cheap, and it is kind of depressing to be around a kid that you know will die sooner than you will.

DavidC · #3 11-17-2005, 09:11 PM

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The treatment for childhood Leukemia is probably not very cheap,

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I was thinking about this.

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and it is kind of depressing to be around a kid that you know will die sooner than you will.

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The parents want to be there.

HopeydaFish · #4 11-17-2005, 11:38 PM

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The treatment for childhood Leukemia is probably not very cheap, and it is kind of depressing to be around a kid that you know will die sooner than you will.

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Exactly. So why should the parents go and get themselves all broke and depressed over some stupid kid? They should stop paying for her chemo and go on with their lives and forget about her.

PoBoy321 · #5 11-17-2005, 11:43 PM

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The treatment for childhood Leukemia is probably not very cheap, and it is kind of depressing to be around a kid that you know will die sooner than you will.

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Exactly. So why should the parents go and get themselves all broke and depressed over some stupid kid? They should stop paying for her chemo and go on with their lives and forget about her.

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Well, suppose that they have other children? Even though they have the sick daughter, they still have to interests of the other child/ren to attend to.

HopeydaFish · #6 11-18-2005, 12:04 AM

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The treatment for childhood Leukemia is probably not very cheap, and it is kind of depressing to be around a kid that you know will die sooner than you will.

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Exactly. So why should the parents go and get themselves all broke and depressed over some stupid kid? They should stop paying for her chemo and go on with their lives and forget about her.

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Well, suppose that they have other children? Even though they have the sick daughter, they still have to interests of the other child/ren to attend to.

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All the more reason to cut ties with the sick one. Survival of the fittest and all that.

gorie · #7 11-17-2005, 09:07 PM

true. they should sell the car, house, and quit their full time jobs.
then when the daughter gets better, she can make a sign that says "my parents sold their car, house, and quit their jobs to spend time with me when i was on chemo in the hospital. donations for a new house and car would be cool. they also need jobs, and are available for interview."
you don't even want to know what the sign reads if she dies.

DavidC · #8 11-17-2005, 09:13 PM

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true. they should sell the car, house, and quit their full time jobs.
then when the daughter gets better, she can make a sign that says "my parents sold their car, house, and quit their jobs to spend time with me when i was on chemo in the hospital. donations for a new house and car would be cool. they also need jobs, and are available for interview."
you don't even want to know what the sign reads if she dies.

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I'm of the opinion that three people living in an apartment with a crappy car isn't some definition of hell or anything.

Neither is two people living in an apartment.

Keep in mind that the poster is asking for cash in order to get hours off work: so they're not losing their jobs over this (unless they quit one for the shift thing, like I suggested would be a possibility).

Edit: What I mean to say here is that while it sucks to lose a daughter, it doesn't really matter if you lose a house, a car, or whatever in the same stroke. It's just a house.

PoBoy321 · #9 11-17-2005, 09:20 PM

Suppose that the only way that they can afford to pay for their kid's treatement is with the insurance that they get from their job, so they have to work, otherwise they can't afford the treatment. Perhaps the jobs they have are such that they need to car, or that the house they live in is already the only affordable housing near their work.

Also, my understanding is that childhood cancer treatment is so incredibly expensive that even if they were to sell their home and car, it wouldn't make much of a dent as far as the total cost of care would eventually be.

Now granted, I don't know the full story either, and I'm saying that this is only a small possible set of circumstances that could prevent them from spending more time at the hospital, but I'm not the one who's making assumptions to make a couple of parents whose daughter is dying of cancer out to be deadbeat scam artists.

Godfather80 · #10 11-17-2005, 09:22 PM

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Suppose that the only way that they can afford to pay for their kid's treatement is with the insurance that they get from their job, so they have to work, otherwise they can't afford the treatment. Perhaps the jobs they have are such that they need to car, or that the house they live in is already the only affordable housing near their work.

Also, my understanding is that childhood cancer treatment is so incredibly expensive that even if they were to sell their home and car, it wouldn't make much of a dent as far as the total cost of care would eventually be.

Now granted, I don't know the full story either, and I'm saying that this is only a small possible set of circumstances that could prevent them from spending more time at the hospital, but I'm not the one who's making assumptions to make a couple of parents whose daughter is dying of cancer out to be deadbeat scam artists.

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That sounds like a bingo.