Allan--aka WinAce--has died

There are a lot of people I would have prefered to see go first. Allan was wonderfully in love and loved, and so had more than many people have had.

Awful news.

... this is so sad, I've just looked at his site for the first time and it seems we have lost a tremendously funny young guy....

Damn, this sucks. I've known him through IIDB for several years now. It's such a tragedy. I'm so sad right now. It's just not fair. He's one of the funniest and smartest guys I've ever had the pleasure of chatting on the internet.

Wow. This is so sad. I didn't know Allan very well. I only talked to him a few times, but still. Awful.
:(

Winace (1985-2005)

May he rest in peace.

What a wonderful young man we have all lost.

Very unfortunate :(

Damn. I had no idea he was so young. :(

Allan Glenn is a 20-year old writer and poet in North Carolina, afflicted with Cystic Fibrosis, who will die unless he gets a transplant he can't afford. After a thorough examination and consultation, the doctors agreed to take his case - citing an impressive 60% survival rate for individuals in his condition. But according to his health "coverage" that wasn't good enough. They denied payment, condemning him to certain death unless he can raise the money for the procedure (almost $400,000), himself. Proving that truth is stranger than fiction, the official denial claims a transplant threatens "poor outcome" and unnacceptable risk of death; a surreal argument given the alternative! Further appeals are unlikely to succeed, and legal options have been exhausted...

kind of puts the legal fees in the Dover case into context eh?

Dover $ ? How about Iraq $ ? We could save 100 Allens and cure the other thousands afflicted had the $ been invested in medical research. Shame, shame. The fourth child. His parents must be crushed. I cannot imagine, no, not for a moment, what they are going through. My heart goes out to them. What more can one say?

I have been using Allen's site 'Funny pics for online use' for some time. I had no idea that he was such a young guy or that he was afflicted with this terrible thing.

I mourn for Allen, such a tragic waste of life and from what I have read, possibly avoidable. Had I been aware of this previously (how many people actually consider the designers of the web-sites they visit?) I would have had no hesitation in making a donation.

Rest in peace Allen, I can only hope that in some small way your website remains as a reminder and a legacy of your life.

I must apologise profusely for mis-spelling Allan's name in the above post. In an effort to atone in some measure I have now made a donation to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation - http://www.cff.org/ways_to_give/make_a_donation/

and the Childrens Organ Transplant Association (this is the Charity mentioned on Allan's site)- http://www.cota.org/site/c.dqLQI3OEKpF/b.506851/k.372/Donate_Now.htm

(apologies for the double post - KwickXML is obviously not my forte.)

Let's remember why this happened: Allan Glenn is a 20-year old writer and poet in North Carolina, afflicted with Cystic Fibrosis, who will die unless he gets a transplant he can't afford. After a thorough examination and consultation, the doctors agreed to take his case - citing an impressive 60% survival rate for individuals in his condition. But according to his health "coverage" that wasn't good enough. They denied payment, condemning him to certain death unless he can raise the money for the procedure (almost $400,000), himself.

Let's also remember that...

Let's remember that HMO's and other private "health care providers" are not in the business of saving lives ---- they are in the business of providing profits for their owners or stockholders.

Everyone who bet the under on "24 hours" as the time required for this thread to degenerate into a pathetic display of political point-scoring, please head to the cashier's window now.

Poor sod,
What an unfortunate thing to happen.
My heart goes out to Allan's fiance and especialy his parents.
I am unable to imagine the suffering that losing so many children would entail.
RIP Allen. The World is undoubtedly slightly worse for being without you.

Everyone who bet the under on "24 hours" as the time required for this thread to degenerate into a pathetic display of political point-scoring, please head to the cashier's window now.

The words "corrupt", "scumbag", and "politics" do not appear anywhere in his FAQ. So perhaps it wasn't as clear to him as it appears to be to you.

According to his FAQ (http://www.save-allan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=51), the reason why he was denied the transplant was because Medicaid's medical director disagreed with his doctor. This happens all the time in health care systems all over the world -- patients are denied care because of rules that are enacted by bureaucrats who were appointed by officials who were elected by voters. It is tragic, but what does it have to do with corruption?

If I'm reading this right, Alan was one of FOUR siblings to die of cystic fibrosis. Imagine how the parents feel, to have kept producing children doomed to suffer and die young, over and over and over and over. I wonder if it crosses their minds that their breeding efforts didn't do their results any favors.

Flint wrote "If I'm reading this right, Alan was one of FOUR siblings to die of cystic fibrosis. Imagine how the parents feel, to have kept producing children doomed to suffer and die young, over and over and over and over. I wonder if it crosses their minds that their breeding efforts didn't do their results any favors."

This is one of the most despicable, cruel, and fundamentally erroneous posts I have ever seen. In my family, we lost a nephew to cystic fibrosis in 1963, and the odds are 1 in 4 that this could happen. His brother is just fine, although about as bright as Flint. Frequently, the parents of a CF child do not even know that he has this disease until some years into his childhood. There is no obvious indication at birth. While it is true that screening for high salt content in sweat is an indicator, there is normally no reason to do so. I sure hope that Flint has enough common decency to take back his unwarranted and highly opinionated comment and be as ashamed as is warranted.

Ken:

Rather than swoon with an affectation of deep offense, you might share information I seem to lack. I simply cannot believe that if four siblings die of the same problem (and all of them die young), that this is coincidence. Are you saying it IS coincidence? If you claim the parents had no reasonable way of knowing these odds until it was too late, then OK, I'll accept that. But instead, you seem to imply that the odds WERE known - in your example, one in four.

In Alan's case, either the odds were a lot higher, or his family suffered a statistically unlikely misfortune (but not THAT unlikely).

In any case, if *I* were one of the parents, I guarantee I'd feel terrible. Very painful to lose any child, of course. But I think I would question my own judgment in a case like this. If YOU knew that perhaps half YOUR children would die young of a congenital disorder, would you keep having children anyway? If you would, YOU are the one who should be ashamed.

Alan's death is a great loss. I'm asking whether it was an *unnecessary* loss. Can you answer?

According to his FAQ (http://www.save-allan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=..., the reason why he was denied the transplant was because Medicaid's medical director disagreed with his doctor. This happens all the time in health care systems all over the world --- patients are denied care because of rules that are enacted by bureaucrats who were appointed by officials who were elected by voters. It is tragic, but what does it have to do with corruption?

— asg

Why did medicaid deny you?

BTW, take a the image on the top of that FAQ page:

http://www.save-allan.org/forum/templates/subSilver/images/logo_phpBB.gif

BUDGET CUTS -- I believe that's the point I focused on. It's rather vile to claim that "According to his FAQ ... the reason why he was denied the transplant was because Medicaid's medical director disagreed with his doctor", when that's not what his FAQ says at all. The coming cuts to Medicaid will lead to many more cases like Allan's -- they and the people who make these perverted decisions to make the very wealthy wealthier at the expense of the rest of society should be opposed, in memory of Allan and for those others like him.

While folks here have managed to blame everyone and everything on the horizon for Allan's not getting the operation that could have saved his life, one key component has escaped blame. And I wonder why. I am referring to the practicing scientists in this saga. Yes, the doctors. Could they not have lowered their fee to save Allen and earned a tad less than two million dollars that calendar year? Could they not have deferred payment, thereby giving Allen and his friends a chance to spread payment over the longer term? No. They HAD to get paid IN FULL, UP FRONT, before all. Let others raise the money, do the charitable act, act sympathetically. We MUST get ours.

'Rev Dr' Lenny Flank,

Whatever the merits of his particular case, countries with "national health care" systems also ration their resources. People are denied heart, lung, etc. transplants and other types of expensive treatments in such societies because like any product, health care is a finite thing (obviously the production possibilities curve for it expands continously, but it nevertheless remains finite). If you want an accurate picture of how terrible a nationalized system can be, just watch the all too accurate (unfortunately) The Barbarian Invasions.

...and would still be with us today.

Or not. There was a 40% chance he would die during surgery according to the information presented on the links. Obviously he felt it was worth the risk.

Whatever your personal politics are.

A young man just died due to a lack of resources!

I think a different thread would be more apropriate, if you want to argue about the politics.

He died due to cystic fibrosis. Any causal statement beyond that carries political assumptions -- such as your assumption that medical treatment should be provided in proportion to personal wealth. There are plenty of resources, they just weren't directed Allan's way, and we all lost because of it. Allan's own statement in the form of a dollar bill that says "BUDGET CUTS", "ONE LIFE", "DENIED", medical care slashed through, is a political statement. The claim that we mustn't talk about any of that is an insult to his memory. The claim that he said that the reason he was denied treatment was because Medicaid's medical director disagreed with his doctor is a flat out lie. That's like saying that the reason that William Dembski rejects evolution is because he disagrees with Jeff Shallit. As Allan noted in his FAQ, Medicaid repeated their position even after they had been firmly rebutted by his doctor, a rebuttal that was never addressed. That's not politics, that's fact. That Allan said that the reason he was denied was "to save money" is a fact. That asg lied about the reason Allan gave is a fact. And that Republicans in Congress are "saving money" by slashing Medicaid and then giving that money to the very wealthy as tax cuts is a fact. The politics comes into whether you support those priorities or not, and whether you want to expose these facts or whether you want to keep them hidden.

Might I stir things up further by pointing out the interesting fact that the Christian Right went berserk over Terry Schiavo having her water cut off last spring, yet they are quite silent about things like this, including Medicaid cuts?

Despite the sympathetic spike of outrage I felt after reading the above post, I'll just limit my comment to expressing condolences to Allan's family. I also thank Panda's Thumb for making me aware of this tremendous individual.....

Allen is already sorely missed. He was knowledgable and wise far beyond his years.

I really can't think of anything else to say -- we've lost one of the best....

doov

In rereading what Allen produced, it strikes me that he garnered more wisdom in 20 years than most people do in much longer lifetimes.

I remember thinking it was unfortunate, about a year ago, when Allan stopped updating "Fundies Say the Darndest Things", but now I'm glad he spent the time with his girlfriend.

If you haven't read it, I've found his "Prophecy for Dummies" to be invaluable.

I think, in an odd sort of way he triumphed in death. He reminded us all what hypocrites the Christian right are. Let's make something of his death, give it some sort of meaning, I think that's what he'd want. Could we start some kind of fundraising drive for cystic fibrosis research on panda's thumb?

"Allen is already sorely missed. He was knowledgable and wise far beyond his years."

I've never believed that wisdom is a thing of years. I've met too many twelve year olds that I think should be giving me advice, and too many idiots over the age of fifty. Most people are jerks, whatever age they are, from what I've read of Allan he was a rare exception.

I know this is my third comment in a row ( and I am sorry) but did Allan publish any of his works?

He was only published online. As far as fundraising, his fiancee and others are working on something, which will likely be announced (and possibly further hashed out) on his website (http://www.save-allan.org). You can keep an eye on that site, or drop me a line (tara AT pandasthumb.org) and I can keep you posted. The funeral was yesterday, so as you can imagine, everyone close to him is exhausted at the moment.

Hilarious quote:

"We need to focus on Jesus, meditate on Jesus, set out minds on Jesus whenever even the slightest desire to have a sexual fantasy arises."
- Sypher2k3, Christianity.com Forums