The mum of a little girl diagnosed with a brain tumour the size of a tangerine has revealed the shockingly high medical bill threatening to cripple her family.
Christan Davis rushed her daughter Haddie to hospital for a brain scan after she knocked her head on a trampoline and began to forget things.
The six-year-old was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma brain cancer.
After undergoing surgery at Cook's Children Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas to have the mass removed from her brain, Haddie began a course of radiotherapy at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital ahead of chemotherapy sessions.
It was midway through the life saving treatment that her mum received an eye watering demand for payment.
"Y’all this is what a (yes, “A,” singular—just one) bill of a cancer mom looks like," Christan wrote on Facebook beneath a bill for $244,806.05 (£186,444.29)
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"LOL. Let me just dip into my pocket real quick and give you $250k before December 4th.
"Thankful for St. Jude or this would be way larger by now! Out of pocket, proton radiation therapy is about $50k per treatment, for 30 rounds. So about $1.5 million dollars by the time that stage is done.
"Haven’t even started chemo yet."
The shockingly high bill encouraged Christan to go public with the huge strain being placed on her family by America's privatised health care system.
"This is what we face," she continued.
"This is reality. I have no pride and I’m not scared to let you all see it because it needs to be seen.
"But let’s be clear—what price would you place on the life of your child?"
Haddie's medical troubles first came to light when she was playing on a trampoline and bashed her head.
Even though her mum couldn’t find any broken bones and it seemed like she just had a busted lip, she started to forget how she got hurt.
In a panic, Christan rushed her to hospital where a CT scan showed that the young girl had not suffered any brain trauma.
However, she did have a mass the size of a tangerine in her posterior fossa, attached to her brain stem.
The doctors learned that she has Medulloblastoma, the most common type of primary brain cancer in children.
While she receives proton radiation therapy at St. Jude ahead of four months of aggressive chemotherapy at home in Fort Worth, Texas, her parents are trying to work out how to pay for her costly treatment.
The GoFundMe page set up on their behalf can be found here.
Although horror stories of expensive medical bills crippling families in the US are not new, they have gained significance for those in the UK in recent months.
Fears that parts of the NHS could be on the table if the US and UK sit down for post-Brexit trade talks were intensified when Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn unveiled 451 pages of documents relating to months of government trade talks.
"These documents confirm the US is demanding the NHS is on the table in trade talks… These uncensored documents leave Boris Johnson ’s denials in absolute tatters," Mr Corbyn said.
While the Prime Minister has rejected the accusations, the prospect of privatised health care casts a heavy shadow over the British electorate.
Comparing the cost of having a child in the UK now – £0 – to what it would be if the NHS was not free at the point of service explains why.
The overall price for welcoming a baby into the world would stretch into the tens of thousands of pounds, with an Ultrasound costing £320, an epidural injection £1,440, a midwife between £2,000 to £5,000, an obstetrician £3,500 to £8,000, £5,000 for the delivery and £250 for a consultant to conduct a newborn baby check.
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