© Alex Remnick/The Star-Ledger
Sandy Marujo's cousin Sergio Branco has leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. The family waged a battle to have Branco's COBRA insurance reinstated. It was cancelled because of a 26-cent shortfall on an insurance payment.
Twenty-six cents almost cost Sergio Branco his life.
Twenty-six cents.
Most of us could scrape that up from under our couch cushions or on the floor of a car.
Sergio Branco has 26 cents, too. The question was whether or not he would be permitted to pay it.
Branco, a 33-year-old father of three, was a truck driver for Russell Reid, a Keasbey-based waste-management company.
"In his spare time, he would play with his children, liked having barbecues and people over for gatherings," his cousin Sandy Marujo said. "He is a big kid at heart."
In January, Branco wasn't himself. He didn't feel right.
"He complained about bone pains and being extremely fatigued," Marujo said. "He decided to go to the emergency room."
The Edison man underwent several tests, which indicated he had a very weak immune system. It could be leukemia, the doctors said.
A few days later, a bone marrow test confirmed the diagnosis: acute myeloid leukemia. The disease, left untreated, travels fast and can kill within months, or even weeks, of diagnosis.
Branco started a series of treatments including chemotherapy and transfusions, and he took three months off from work under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Doctors soon said he'd need a bone marrow transplant to prolong his life. They found a 10-point match - the best possible match. The transplant and related care for the disease would cost more than $500,000.
Good thing the family had health insurance through Branco's job, they thought.
But when his three-month leave under FMLA ended, Russell Reid fired him, Branco's family said.
Comment: Earth is always moving!
The question is, what new factors have entered the solar system to cause all this mayhem at U.S. industrial factories and power plants?