Entertainment Report
‘Shutdown angel’ pays furloughed cancer patient’s medical bills
The government shutdown forced her to have to choose between her rent and her chemotherapy — but an anonymous angel made sure she didn’t have to worry about either.
Quashawn Latimer went to the hospital earlier this week to undergo her final cancer treatment, and the Maryland mother of three was told something astonishing.
“Someone called in to the hospital and took care of my account. They wiped out my entire balance,” she told NBC Washington.
The anonymous donor made the big-hearted gesture after Latimer shared her story with MSNBC’s Mariana Atencio last week.
“I can’t negotiate with my chemo. That has to happen. If it’s the chemo or the rent, chemo wins,” she said then. “Worst case scenario, we lose our home.”
Now she doesn’t have to worry about that either — the donor paid the family’s February rent, too.
“It is blessings, and it is a bright side to this, and I thank God for it,” Latimer told NBC Washington.
The Millersville woman, a Navy veteran who works for the Department of Treasury, still had health insurance during the shutdown, but it didn’t cover all the costs associated with her battle with stage 2 breast cancer.
“Putting cancer in your budget is unexpected,” she told MSNBC — as was the 35-day government shutdown that effected Latimer and over 800,000 federal employees and an estimated 1.2 million contract workers.
She said she was relieved when President Donald Trump announced a temporary deal ending the shutdown on Friday.
“It was a very scary moment for me, having to make a choice between what I’m not going to pay to keep me healthy,” she said.
While her angel reaffirmed her belief in humanity, she doesn’t have much faith in the government. She’s worried she could find herself caught in another shutdown come Feb. 15, when the current deal expires.
“I’m holding on to every dollar that I have because I don’t trust it at this point,” she said. “My life is some congressmen’s and some senators’ and a president’s hands right now.”
By: NBC Palm Springs
January 30, 2019
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