Megan Maulorico is 39.
In March, right after her birthday, she was diagnosed with stage IV stomach cancer. She also has cancer in her liver and elsewhere in her body.
She says her doctor told her that cancer will end her life.
“It's been eye-opening how much emotions are not singular," Megan told Ozarks Public Radio in an interview last month.
"They really layer upon themselves," she added. "I've laughed while crying multiple times. Because what else are you supposed to do? I mean, life's going on. I mean, things are still funny, and I couldn't live without sarcasm and making a joke about stuff. I have come to realize not everybody has that sense of humor, and cancer is not funny to everybody. I choose to believe it can be, and we don't, we don't have to be serious all the time.”
“So I'm gonna ask a serious and awkward question," a reporter said to Megan. "Like in these discussions with the doctors, did they say you have X amount of months or days or years to live? And what is that number, if there is one? What goes through your mind and emotions when you hear that kind of stuff, Megan?”
She answered, “So when they told me I had stage IV, which means that's it, that's, that now means that's incurable. So, as far as I know, and maybe other people have different experiences, they no longer give you that there's so much time left, unless maybe you're at the end and things are shutting down. I'm not at that point. So now my treatment is to mitigate the symptoms. And it is possible to go into remission at stage IV; it is less common. It's a very small percentage of people. And it typically comes back and maybe in the same way or somewhere else, but their goal is to prolong life."
Their love story began at Blockbuster
Megan and her 42-year-old husband Nathan Maulorico are emblematic of a lot of cherished American ideals including a successful marriage and prosperity in business. They met 22 years ago at a Blockbuster video-rental store.
Nathan remembers those days fondly: “She was my manager on a Sunday-night shift. I only worked there one day a week. And, and we got to know each other from there. We had fun times hanging out there, goofing around. And, and then from there, we, we were like instant best friends. And we fell in love, like, really quickly. And, and we ended up getting in an apartment together. And the rest writes itself.”
They got married in 2007. They built their own small business, Unknown Films, from the ground up.
If you’ve ever watched popular reality shows like Dance Moms or American Restoration, or a slew of other ones, you’ve probably seen Nathan’s work as a video camera operator.
At a young age compared to many in their generation, the Mauloricos were able to buy a house in a beautiful, quiet area — south Springfield’s Kickapoo neighborhood.
They maintained that house for several years while also living much of the time in New York City — in neighborhoods very different from their Ozarks home but also considered highly desirable: the Financial District and the Upper West Side.
Those three neighborhoods have something in common: a relatively high life expectancy, in a country where life expectancy has been falling for decades.
Research by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that in 1980 — just before Nathan was born — life expectancy in the U.S. was pretty similar to other wealthy countries. But today, the U.S. far outspends its peers on healthcare, while it has the lowest life expectancy among rich countries.
Peer countries have an average life expectancy of 82.4 years. The U.S. average is just 76.1. And our nationwide average is dropping, while peers as diverse as the UK and Japan are rebounding from the pandemic.
Within the U.S. and Missouri, life expectancy plays out with dramatic inequalities depending on where you live, reflecting differences in prosperity, poverty and access to healthcare.
In Springfield, three Census tracts, all in the west and central parts of town, have life expectancies that only make it to the mid- or late-60s, according to the CDC. In most of the Queen City, people can expect to live till their 70s or early 80s.
'Once you get into the management or financial side of it, it becomes a nightmare'
But Megan is just 39. Sometimes, despite everything, life just isn’t fair. Which brings us to the Mauloricos’ efforts to pay for Megan’s cancer care.
Megan said, “The closer I get to the person giving me care, the more amazing it is, the nurses, for example, that you see regularly, like in the chemo area, have been phenomenal, you know them all by name. They see you, they say hi, they take care of you... every need you have, the doctors have also been great. Once you get into the management or financial side of it, it becomes a nightmare. They lose —”
A reporter asked, “A nightmare?”
Megan replied, “They, they just don't care about the individual or what the individual is facing, which is a terminal diagnosis, or even just a cancer diagnosis in general, is scary. I mean, you see the shellshock on people in the waiting area each week, because there's always someone new that's been diagnosed and coming in. And, you know the flip side of that, because you just went through it.”
This spring, the Mauloricos set up a crowdfunding plea on GoFundMe. The popular internet fundraising platform has become part of the American health system these days. On this afternoon’s segment of Sense of Community, we’ll look at their GoFundMe campaign and what’s going on as the Mauloricos try to work with the healthcare system — and their insurance company — to help Megan fight cancer as long as she can.
