Looking for others' thoughts about this situation

This certainly falls under the "none of my beeswax" category. Yet, I am really curious what others think. Since we are such a diverse group, I would love to hear what you think.

Anyway, a son of Michael Sweet of the band Stryper had his appendix burst a while back. It was some sort of situation where intestines wrapped around the appendix or something and so surgery was too unsafe due to the toxins in his body. Long story short, he was in the hospital for two weeks then sent home with the intent to schedule surgery in the near future. Then the hospital refused to have him back for surgery when he was able due to lack of insurance. They set a dollar amount (under $2,000) the parents would have to come up with by the surgery date. They did not make it by the date, so his surgery remains unperformed.

There is a big push on a FB web site, ran by Michael Sweet's wife, dedicated to the boy to raise funds. One of my friends donated and so I did some digging online before putting my dollars into a fund.

Smaller Christian rock bands have now been persuaded to help this family by asking fans to donate. I am a huge fan of Apologetix, a Christian parody band. Apologetix is endorsing this and asking for donations. That's all well and good.

What totally gets me is there is NOTHING on the end of Stryper asking for donations. Doesn't that seem odd? There is nothing on their FB (most FB posts are made by Michael Sweet) and nothing on their site.

So, I thought maybe there was some agreement within the band Stryper or through their record label to never self-promote on the band's Internet connections. But, they had a concert last night and none of the fans even have commented on this situation on Stryper's pages.

I'm not doubting the boy is sick but something doesn't add up. Why would a hospital refuse surgery to a minor if he is in dire need of it to keep from dying from these toxins from the appendix?

While it is all none of my business, I am annoyed that small bands, such as Apologetix, would be approached to raise funds when they rely on donations just to keep touring when Stryper is not soliciting donations.

And it isn't a hoax. It is Sweet's wife running the page and not a fake FB account. Here is the post about the situation made by the wife:

ok this is what happened. On June 19th chase was saying he had pains we took him to UMC quick care they did no blood work no X-rays just pushed on his tummy as he was throwing up. Left there with his diagnoses at gastritis/gerd. June 21 at 2:30 am Chase woke up screaming like no other screams I've heard before, he collapsed on our bedroom floor. We took him to the ER that is closest to our house they put him on IV and laying there for few hours screaming pain, Bobs yelling at them to give him something for the pain, they gave him some morphine that worked immediately . Then Bob had to go home and get ready for his flight to calif. for the Stage It show so I was left with him. Finally they gave him a CT scan waiting about an hour to find out that his appendix burst, my face dropped and I fell in the chair. We were then ambulance to Sunrise Children's Hospital why there instead of UMC children's trauma center knowing our financial situation I don't know, but it was a really nice place and the nurses were really good.
Well me and Janice took turns staying the night with Chase for 2 weeks without any surgery, his body had to much poison and toxins they couldn't do it was to dangerous. So after 2 weeks of seeing my 10 year old son suffer and screaming out to God to help him they let him go on 4th of July. 2 weeks later went to see his doctor just for the doctor to say he looks GREAT!( He looked frail and pail to me he had lost so much weight he weighs 62 pounds when he weighed more before going into the hospital.) I'll send the financial nurse in to work out payment arrangements Im sitting there looking at the calander saying well when are we going to get him in for surgery, he walked out of the room.
Then I left. A few days later Robert called and the people at the office said you don't have insurance so you need to take Chase to the ER and we can work with you there, so we did that just for them to put him in a gown and sit there for a few hours and the ER doctor came in and told us its not life threatening why did you come to the ER. At this point Robert and I are loosing our mind we said because our doctor told us to because we didn't have insurance, we got chase dressed went home. From that point on I'm fuming and calling the office every day until I got an answer I told them if we don't get him in I'm suing, this is a doctor to took an oath to work on children and yet mine is being avoided because of not having insurance, he is in violation and I'm very angry . The lady then said she would look and see what was opened but they never called me back, so next day I called them told them if you don't want to keep getting calls from me you better get my son in for surgery they finally started making arrangement but it was money arrangements, and that kept changing telling me well if i came up with $1200 by the 16th then we can make an appointment, well I never made the deadline so it went up to $7888 I flipped out told them to send me to another hospital but all this went on for a week of daily calling and calling several times a day, finally got to talk to UMC and they didn't give me as much of a run around but still want funds upfront but $3944 told them I cant do that help me better, then $2564 so this is where Im left at. Still dont have that amount and they want me to come down and do pre registering on the 13th or 14th with that amount, they have him scheduled for surgery on the 17th at UMC. This is what I was left with not sure about what the next step are as to will they call me do I call them where do I go? Cant wait until this is over. All my house utilites are due to be turned off because we are trying to save everything. Im selling my dining room table its a 7 piece set.

I'm confused. Who are Robert, Chase & Janice? How many kids does he have? I was only aware of 2. If he had one with the woman he rushed to marry so fast after his previous wife's death, that would be a very young child. Honestly Red, this sounds goofy to me.

Honestly, having worked in the health insurance industry and with hospitals for over 30 years, this does not make sense to me. Two weeks in the hospital? The infection should have been taken care of and then surgery done all during that time.

What state do these people live in? Is there some sort of state health program for children? Some states have them. Did the parents talk to the hospital's financial department to see if payments could be made? Again most hospitals have these arrangements.

The post of the mother is confusing to me. I really don't understand what did or is taking place. She needs to talk to not just phone a hospital representative or patient advocate. She can find patient advocates who are either a part of the hospital or who are independent of them. She should also ask her doctor to help.

I am the first one to say the American medical industry stinks. Many fall through the cracks and we are the only country in the Western World who do not take care of our own when it comes to medical care but in this case, I think there are too many questions going unanswered regarding what this mother has done to go for help. When children are invloved, there are usually better places to turn to than Face Book.

CeCe wrote:I'm confused. Who are Robert, Chase & Janice? How many kids does he have? I was only aware of 2. If he had one with the woman he rushed to marry so fast after his previous wife's death, that would be a very young child. Honestly Red, this sounds goofy to me.

I see now it is actually Robert Sweet's son. There was conflicting info when I first read this. Doesn't change much though, as they are both part of Stryper.

So, yeah, it's still pretty goofy Stryper is doing nothing to seek funds when other, smaller, Christian bands are being approached to do so. The guys of Apologetix need all the money they can get and rely on fan donations to begin with.

Minerva wrote:Honestly, having worked in the health insurance industry and with hospitals for over 30 years, this does not make sense to me. Two weeks in the hospital? The infection should have been taken care of and then surgery done all during that time.

What state do these people live in? Is there some sort of state health program for children? Some states have them. Did the parents talk to the hospital's financial department to see if payments could be made? Again most hospitals have these arrangements.

The post of the mother is confusing to me. I really don't understand what did or is taking place. She needs to talk to not just phone a hospital representative or patient advocate. She can find patient advocates who are either a part of the hospital or who are independent of them. She should also ask her doctor to help.

I am the first one to say the American medical industry stinks. Many fall through the cracks and we are the only country in the Western World who do not take care of our own when it comes to medical care but in this case, I think there are too many questions going unanswered regarding what this mother has done to go for help. When children are invloved, there are usually better places to turn to than Face Book.

Yeah, two weeks in the hosp. sans surgery is suspect to begin with. Why let him go when surgery is still needed? They are in Nevada.

Red, reading this over again & doing a little googling...this doesn't even almost sound right to me. They're saying this kids appendix ruptured & they won't do the surgery until the operation is paid upfront. Looks like the medical bills are about $100,000. The surgery $7000.

A ruptured appendix is life saving emergency surgery. It would have been done immediately. This is just...not right.

CeCe wrote:Red, reading this over again & doing a little googling...this doesn't even almost sound right to me. They're saying this kids appendix ruptured & they won't do the surgery until the operation is paid upfront. Looks like the medical bills are about $100,000. The surgery $7000.

A ruptured appendix is life saving emergency surgery. It would have been done immediately. This is just...not right.

Yeah, something is amiss. This is exactly why people have to do more research instead of just donating to causes. I am actually so upset that Apologetix fans are being asked to donate. I don't fault Apologetix, but so many people probably take their recommendation as something legit and something here is just not legit.

I am not rich, but I know enough people in my little life that if my son needed $7000 for a surgery, there would be people in my life who would step up if I didn't have it. How can people associated with such a band not have either the money to pay for the surgery or a friend base to step up? I just don't get it, but hope this young man is not in pain and things are resolved.

RedBedroom wrote:

Yeah, something is amiss. This is exactly why people have to do more research instead of just donating to causes. I am actually so upset that Apologetix fans are being asked to donate. I don't fault Apologetix, but so many people probably take their recommendation as something legit and something here is just not legit.

I am not rich, but I know enough people in my little life that if my son needed $7000 for a surgery, there would be people in my life who would step up if I didn't have it. How can people associated with such a band not have either the money to pay for the surgery or a friend base to step up? I just don't get it, but hope this young man is not in pain and things are resolved.

I hope this kid is ok too. But something here is not being told correctly. Ruptured appendix? A person would DIE. It sounds like one of those stories you see people tell online like the one where this guy's fiancee had been abducted, beaten & raped. Within a week the perp was convicted by a jury & doing 25 to life. Yeah, sure he was.

Either this just isn't being told right or something more...sinister is going on. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt but this is just "off".