HORRIBLE

High School Football Coach Dies Amid Chemotherapy Drug Shortage

“I just keep wondering, ‘What if we had gotten the cisplatin? Could it have slowed his cancer down?”

A Wisconsin high school football coach diagnosed with stage four cancer died amid a nationwide shortage of essential chemotherapy drugs. Jeff Bolle, the football coach at Marquette University High School, was unable to get cisplatin during a nationwide shortage that began last year and died in December. “I just keep wondering, ‘What if we had gotten the cisplatin? Could it have slowed his cancer down?” Bolle’s wife, Connie, told USA Today. “Would he have been able to coach even more? Would he have been stronger? Would he have felt better?... It’s always a second guess.” Cisplatin is one of two chemotherapy drugs that are still “listed in shortage,” but last year the FDA began allowing imports of the drug to help alleviate some of the strain. According to FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf, the shortage has persisted because producing the drug, which does not have a patent, is not profitable. Meanwhile, people across the country are dying. “He really cared about other people not getting these chemotherapy drugs,” Connie Bolle said of her husband. “He would still be sad today that people are still dealing with this.”