David Nicholson - A Bid for Survival

The Boston Herald

No one is reporting the big story. They're talking about the American flag that flew on a construction crane near the Pentagon on Sept. 11, found in a box of debris nine months later, rescued by a man who ran an auction house in Virginia, who cleaned up the flag and put it behind plexi-glass and for two years drove it around to schools and civic events for ordinary people to see.

And they're talking about this man, David Nicholson, 44, who cherished the flag and swore he would never sell it, not for a million dollars, who turned down real offers - one for $100,000, because he cared about the flag's historic value more than its financial worth.

But that was before he knew the high cost of getting sick in America.

A year ago, Nicholson had it all - a wife, three children, ages 6, 10 and 13, a job he loved and this amazing piece of history. Then he was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma. He had his kidney removed and kept his fingers crossed. But three months later the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes and doctors told him he had only months to live.

He's alive today, he says, because of prayer but also because of a cancer drug that doesn't come cheap.

“I've been undergoing high-dose interleukin treatments and I only had a partial response,'' he told CNN nine days ago. ``So my next step will be either experimental or a bone marrow transplant.’'

He's selling the flag he swore he would never sell because he can't work, he's worried about his family and because he already has $250,000 in medical bills.

But this is not the story that's being reported. The flag's the story. It's on eBay. It's been there since March 4 and the bidding will close tomorrow afternoon.

This is what being sick does to an American family. It pulls the rug out from under you. Life changes dramatically when you can't work. Bills mount up. The kids still need to be fed. The mortgage still has to be paid. Nothing stops just because you've stopped.

Nicholson is doing what many sick people in America are forced to do - going public. Depending on a flag or a walk or some kind of fund-raiser to help pay the bills because the bills are too big for any one family to pay.

“Our viewers are watching and wanting to help,'' the CNN reporter said. And then she put the name and the phone number of the Nicholson Cancer Fund on the screen. Because this is what we do now. This is what we've come to. 

Nicholson plans to donate a portion of the money he receives for the flag to Duke University Cancer Center, where he's being treated. The rest is for his family.

‘I need to make sure that their future is secure while I can.''

As of Friday morning the bid was up to $360,100. The money will pay the bills and buy Nicholson some peace of mind.

But it's pathetic, isn't it, that in this richest of nations, a man is forced to sell what he owns so his family won't be bankrupt when he dies?