UPDATE TUESDAY 5:50 PM: In just one day, Karen Black has more than doubled the $17,000 she was trying to raise via crowdfunding for cancer treatment in Europe. The Five Easy Pieces actress has currently garnered $43,521 from 833 donors after raising her goal to $32,000 earlier today. 
PREVIOUSLY, MONDAY PM: Karen Black has turned to online crowdfunding to help with her two and a half year battle with cancer. The Five Easy Pieces and Easy Rider actress started a page on GoFundMe.com to raise $17,000 for a two-month treatment in Europe. Since Black started her campaign on March 14 the actress has raised $12,611 from 183 donors as of today. “In the last two years we have used up all of our savings keeping Karen alive – traveling – treatments, getting people to help her. We have nothing left. And the European treatment is not covered by insurance,” writes her husband Stephen Eckelberry on the fundraising page. Black was first diagnosed with ampullary cancer back in November of 2010. She had an operation taking out 1/3 of her pancreas as well as extensive chemotherapy and radiation therapy and was declared cancer free. Unfortunately, the disease returned last June to her lower back and infected her lungs. According to Eckelberry, Black can “hardly move around and is mostly bed-bound”.
It makes me terribly sad that people have to fundraise like this (basically social media enabled begging) just because America is so backwoods as to equate universal health care with communism.
Shouldn’t the health and physical well being of our country’s residents be the country and government’s number one concern?
She’s an actress in SAG. Why isn’t she insured?
the insurance still costs money, and even with insurance – it still doesn’t cover everything.
I re-read the article and it mentions that her insurance doesn’t covr European treatments.
she’s on medicare and has private insurance which covers costs any unless it’s experiential or private… And no countries healthcare private or government funded would cover going to a foreign country to try experiential treatment which is what she is asking people to help fund ….. So instead I don’t know helping her with a donation the typical liberal like a lot of commenters on this site use it as a excuse to push their agenda even if they have no Idea what the facts are.
The article states that her insurance is not good in France. Why go to France? …you ask….France has the BEST care in Cancer in the world.
Are you friggin kidding me ?! WHY and WHEN did the government become responsible for an individual’s health issues ?! You must be one of the unfortunate morons that takes NO responsibility for your own actions or lack thereof. Seriously, if our system is SO skewed, you should consider moving to another country – may I suggest Russia, Iran, Iraq, Cuba ?!!! All I have to say is bon voyage !!! enjoy.
Kat, I sincerely hope that you never develop serious illness, or that you are ever in a situation where your insurance company delays or disputes your claims – holding up your treatment and endangering your health.
Yeah right, the government would never delay or deny any claims, right.
Kat, “WHY” is because it’s humane. We should take care of everyone in this country. “WHEN” was several years ago when Medicare/Medicaid were created.
I’ll help you if you help me. But if that’s not your thing, then those countries you list are a great place for you to go.
You wrote obvious truth. loved your comment, f&f.
The American Taxpayer pays through the NOSE when people go the emergency room when they’re sick instead of having access to reasonably priced health care. When the “death panels” aka the insurance industry, is held as responsible as individuals are, and should be, things will get better for everyone. But until then, SINGLE PAYER FOR ALL. It’s ridiculous to be a country as wealthy as America to be so FAR behind the world on such a simple topic.
As far as Karen Black goes, I feel bad for her. But if she’d not spend so much on her auditing, maybe she’d have enough for her medical bills.
Here’s a tip: Saying you feel bad for someone and then taking a swipe at them for how you believe they’e wasted their money tends to undercut your claim that you feel bad for them.
You should try that from the European and Canadian perspective, Kat. When I told a German friend that if he moved here with his pregnant wife, he’d better have private health insurance, he looked at me like I’d told him American women give birth squatting in fields.
Yes, and I live on the Canadian and when someone I know needed a CAT scan they had to wait six months for it. A hospital had a fund raising a few months ago to purchase a MRI machine. They flock over the border in Detroit and here in Pt. Huron to get treated. Where do we go to get treated when our system is overloaded with free insurance for everyone including illegals. The 15,000 thousand pages of regulations is already interfering with my wife’s treatment of ovarian cancer. It is only anecdotal but every doctor I have seen and my wife has seen hate Obamacare and plan on retiring early or opting out.
Kat,
While I don’t totally disagree with your point that people have some shared stewardship for our own health care, I think you lost any real credibility when you started throwing around terms like “moron”, and suggesting that people who ask for health care financial help should move to Iran or Russia or Cuba. At that point, you just sounded mean and spiteful.
I’ve been taking care of cancer patients as a medical provider for over ten years and “experimental” therapies from other countries have never been paid for by our American health insurance companies – – not even the most generous plans. But if people– any people– want to go online and ask for money our first amendment permits that. Perhaps the morons are those who give them money. Or perhaps those people are just more caring than you seem to be. But, it’s probably none of your business, either way.
Remember that old aphorism…” it is better to be silent and thought to be a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
You come to mind upon reflection.
Cuba’s health care is free and pretty damn good. And you are an idiot.
Um do you live there? I’m guessing no considering every Cuban I know escaped and have nothing but horror stories.
You tell ’em Kat! And while we’re pointing out communie ideas like national health care, I think we should make plans to do away with socialist/commie things like the fire department (everybody’s got they own firehose, right?), the police department (everybody in Amurrica’s already well-heeled –right?) and those annoying Fed programs like the Army (with alla our guns, we’re practically an Army in and of itself –right?)!
I just hate the way some people think it is necessary to load their posts with insults. The US is alone in the civilised world in not providing medical care for all of its citizens. It’s a tragedy.
I do not know Jack Nicholson, nor his family or business associates, nor am I trolling for personal benefit. But in reply to the posts here demanding why he isn’t “doing something” about Ms. Black’s terrible plight (and I pray for her), is it not reasonable to assume that he might have helped out someway if not recently, then in the past concerning her medical issues? And since I do not know, I will not point an indignant finger at him for a perceived transgression that in fact may never have happened at all.
To Karen Black, and all the “Karen Blacks” who so much want to keep living, I wish you the time you want and that your suffering is as little as possible.
In the thread of this conversation, are many people revealing that we don’t truly understand “universal” health care as it exists in any country where it is the law? Universal does not mean that EVERY treatment will be available to every citizen provided by your country’s government health insurance plan. It really means that basic health care, prevention and treatment of common illnesses and oversight of recovery is available to everyone who seeks such services. But it won’t be free and shouldn’t be. Health Education studies have demonstrated for nearly fifty years that even asking a poor person to pay a nominal amount ( $5.00) gets them invested more thoroughly in the outcome. It is a basic step of shared stewardship of your health with your physician.
Universal care will provide treatments with known success for many cancers and for AIDS. But is it correct to ask that every new illness (MRSA, for example) and every new cancer and every new intrauterine procedure that CAN be done will also be paid for by national health insurance. That is not sustainable in the near term and would probably prevent most routine and proven illness care from being continued for everyone who asks for it.
Every new treatment, every new drug developed is always expensive. And in countries with “Universal” health coverage these “latest and greatest” aren’t covered until there is an accumulation of years of
“proof” that the cost makes sense, that many people will benefit from it and no harm comes to those who have such therapies. But, the typical model of care uses the least expensive drug with proven efficacy for all patients without adverse side effects. Those patients must be managed on a case-by-case basis while still using affordability/efficacy as a guide.
As a cancer care provider, I was asked so many times by patients if they would survive and for how long. I only said this, which I continue to believe 20 years after my professional life began:
I don’t have a crystal ball so I can’t say for certain. But I don’t need that certainty to know what and how much to offer to a patient with recurrent cancer. I advise to “let your pocket book be your guide” and stick with what’s proven first and add other experimental treatments based on your bank balance. As human beings it seems counter-intuitive that physicians or researchers would try to cure everything. Not every patient will survive cancer. That’s nature’s way. My beliefs are neither Darwinian nor are they about a Deity to “intervene and rescue” patients. My beliefs reside some place between those disparate worlds. They are a result of watching people travel thousands of miles, spend all of their money and their last months or years trying to stay alive with any, and all treatments exhausted, only to die. That effort is any person’s right and, for good or ill, is, and will be limited by how much money and time you have left. But it isn’t right or possible for everyone and a solid majority of traditionally trained American, European and Asian educated practitioners tend toward the pragmatic and proven.
Are we correct? I don’t know. But, in my opinion, understanding the real meaning and intention of “universal” care for over six billion people currently on earth is the minimum level of intelligence necessary to frame this discussion in a way that helps find an actual, sustainable solution.
5 year pancreatic survival rates are very low. Karen is not spending money to be cured, simply to extend her life a few months. Which is of course her choice. But for the government, it is not a rational choice, far better to spend the money treating a child’s cancer. To all those people saying the government should pay, perhaps they could say what they would stop spending money on to fund this for all. Certainly as a UK citizen with our national health service I would not get this treatment for free as it would rightly have been judged to be not worth it.
Finally, a comment worth reading. There is a basic fact to our existence – we all gotta die sometime. Many people and families don’t ahve the maturity to recognize this, and will try anything to squeeze a few more months out before death.
It’s embarrassing that this is what Americans have to do to not die of illness. What a mess of a country.
Agreed. This is all pathetic and unbelievable. I wish both Karen Black & Valerie Harper the best. By the way, I loved Black’s wonderful work in The Trilogy of Terror.
Karen is a great actress to work with; she is beautiful inside and out. Please help her get well. Nothing is impossible, my great-grandmother had cancer in her late 90s and she fought it and is now cancer free. Keep fighting Karen and keep up your strength, Stephen!
To Karen, a wondrous talent, who I’ve adored from the beginning — maintain your spirits and bravery because to do otherwise is to give up. I’ve donated what I could and wish you the best. To all those making their cheap jack comments regarding how she should have lived her life and snide asides about how this actor or that actor who have worked with Karen should have done this or that absent any knowledge of what they did or didn’t do, how about shutting your pie holes?
That same treatment here in the US would probably be over 100K.
Karen’s best and most intense performance ever was in Trilogy of Terror in 1975 it was the scariest thing to ever air on TV viewers were terrified.
Anonymous, I didn’t see your posted, before I posted mine. But, I am also a huge fan of Black’s work in The Trilogy of Terror. I will never forget that crazy doll that was trying to kill her character.
Ms. Black had a hugely successful film career. You would think one of the studios that made millions off her talent would help pay her bills. It’s sad to see former greats — actors, directors, etc end up with little means late in life and the Hollywood studios/networks rarely step in to help.
This is a fucking disgrace that a great actress has to crowd fund saving her life.
What the hell is wrong with this country?
In countries where health care is provided, citizens have to pay, in some instances, 60% of their income in taxes. Even then they have to wait weeks for certain tests and surgery. And the health care is not great.
it’s even more of a disgrace when it in a schoolteacher, single mother, or veteran.
‘is’, not ‘in’, obviously.
You grammar police need to pay heed to the message, not the delivery. People don’t know how to spell anymore. This won’t change anytime soon, so get used to it.
Actor, veteran, busdriver, stockbroker, janitor, ballerina, waitress, scientist, brother, sister – Cancer does not care who you are or what profession you have. And for the people who love you the situation is just as brutal whether you have a career society considers noble or ridiculous. Chemo, or radiation, or surgery doesn’t hurt any less if you had fame. Admittedly, Ms. Black is more likely to have success in fundraising b/c of her exposure as an actress than someone without fame, but let’s not belittle the sadness off her situation by arguing that the situation would be sadder if she was a schoolteacher or veteran.
Empathy and kindness are not resources we have to parcel out – there’s enough for everyone.
I repped her a few years ago, she is a wonderful and kind lady. I hope nothing but the best and a quick recovery. As a person who just lost a parent to cancer I can imagine what she is going through. Get well soon!!
Lucky for her and good for her. Just too bad millions of cancer patients aren’t so lucky.
Good luck to her.
Considering all the American sustained and unfounded criticism, it’s amusing how Europe becomes convenient…
According to IMDb, Karen is 73 years old, and of course qualifies for Medicare, which has been a life saver for me.
Is she going abroad for some kind of unapproved treatment? Can we have the whole story, Stephen, It may help you to raise funds as well as educate people. Please give my best to your wife. I know her.
Jack did a bunch of movies with her…Dude, write a check!
Jack Nicholson, her co-star in Five Easy Pieces, spends as much per game for his court side seats at the Laker’s games as they’ve raised for her current treatment. There is so much money flying around Hollywood, I don’t understand why a star like Karen Black hasn’t received much more financial support from her colleagues.
Thanks so much for publicizing this– I had no idea this was happening.
Thank you! Great post
Why are’nt some of these rich Hollywood millionaires, paying for this treatment? They make millions off the public, now get off your asses and help this woman who helped pave the way for some of you…….
This country does give medicare to 65+ like Karen Black, and there is supplemental insurance that you co-pay. But sometimes this insurance is not enough so people make their problem public to get help. The many Hollywood people and others, who know her, and throw away their millions on clothes, cars, boats, drugs, etc. should throw some of it her way. Hey Hollywood; it’s probably a tax write off!
This is so, so sad, and, as someone else said, a disgrace that this must occur in a country as rich as this one.
Karen Black is sick and has to beg for money Why are so many people so quick to blame “this country” for her situation? Why not blame “the industry”? Certainly, she has a few movie star friends who can shell out a few thousand dollars. Perhaps the Chamber of Commerce should forgo another ugly star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and just give her the money so she can sustain her life. This story exposes the reality that many “stars” can barely pay their bills. The problem here is not the American health care system but rather our own misdirected priorities.
No its the health care system.
I find it sad when I read about the rich actors of Hollywood who
spend such lavish amounts of money on themselves but cant give a few bucks to help a fellow actor.
Farrah Fawcett went to Germany for cancer treatment that was unavailable in the US. Steve McQueen went to Mexico for cancer treatment that was unavailable in the US. Neither treatment worked. When your primary cancer comes back and metastasizes in another organ is rarely goes into remission and experimental treatments are usually useless.
This story underscores two crying needs:
1. single-payer Medicare for All
2. to break the stranglehold allopathic medicine has on insured treatments
How many other cancer patients without Karen Black’s public cache are suffering and dying in silence for the very reasons Black now feels forced to publicly beg for help?
Or Australia. We have universal health care plus private insurance. You have no idea what you are ralking about. It isn’t communist to have govt provided health care. We pay our tax for it and use when necessary. Better than your system in US.
. What socialized health care nor private one would be paying for experiential treatment in Europe , nor any treatment outside your country.. So many ignorant people who comment, She has done 2 years of treatment and has had 2 operations and chemo, the cancer came back..
My favorite Karen Black performance is from Robert Altman’s little seen 1982 gem “Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean”. Black, Cher and the late, great Sandy Dennis all give fearless and touching performances. I wish her well.
Again: if you don’t want the Government to help out when you are broke, then why have Police or fire department either? The system has been gamed: you get sick and MAYBE your insurance company will do the right thing. Just as likely they’ll deny you the coverage you’ve paid for and are entitled to have because they can and (after all) it’a all about making money. Other countries can pull off healthcare for their people, so I always find it amusing when folks say it’s “impossible” to figure it out here. I sincerely hope Karen Black gets the treatments she so desperately needs, but then, I hope everyone gets the treatments they need. What’s the point of being the richest and most powerful country in the world if we can’t help the old and the hungry? One should not be punished for growing old.