A 37-year-old cancer survivor who lost his job during the pandemic says he's out of medicine he needs to stay alive, and is calling the unemployment office '75 times a day' but not hearing back

• A 37-year-old, two-time cancer survivor who lost his job during the coronavirus pandemic says he can no longer afford the medicine he needs to stay alive, and is rationing what he has left.
• Michael Shawki was laid off from a New York City bakery chain in March, and told CNN he can't get through to the unemployment office despite calling it "75 times a day."
• He is also waiting to receive a stimulus check from the government to pay for his medication, saying that it's "life or death" for many people.
• He has set up a GoFundMe crowdfunder while waiting for his stimulus check to arrive, where he has raised more than $12,000 and urged people to help others trying to afford medication.
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A two-time cancer survivor who lost his job during the coronavirus pandemic says he has run out of the medicine he needs to stay alive, and can't get through to unemployment office despite calling it "75 times a day."

Michael Shawki, 37, told CNN that he can no longer afford the medicine since being laid off as the manager of a New York City bakery chain in March.

Shawki uses methotrexate, a drug used to treat many cancers, but has run out of prescriptions and has used his final dose. He has also started rationing his other medications, CNN reported.

To pay for more, Shawki said he needed the stimulus check due under the government's Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The one-time direct payment of up to $1,200 per person will arrive to Americans in the coming weeks, with the Internal Revenue Service saying it sent the first wave of checks on Saturday.

Shawki has insurance, but said the copay to receive the medicines he needs is around $500.

He described waiting for the stimulus checks as "life or death" for many Americans.

In the mean time, Shawki has created a GoFundMe page to raise money for his medicine as well as groceries and rent. He has so far raised over $12,000.

Shawki wrote there: "Thank you everyone for all your help your donations have me in tears of joy and thankful for CNN getting my story out." He also directed people to another GoFundMe for medicine, urging people to "help the other patient in need."

He linked to a campaign by Brandi Titus, who was also interviewed by CNN after saying on Twitter that she had "one shot left" of her insulin, and that when she ran out she would be hospitalized within 48 hours.

'What do you think when that income goes away?'

Shawki told CNN that he has called applied for unemployment and that his application is still pending. He said that he has called the Department of Labor's unemployment line "75 times a day" but has not gotten an answer.

"People are living check to check already when they're working," Shawki told CNN.

"What do you think when that income goes away? You think they're going to be able to survive on a few weeks? No. I can't make pills just magically appear. I can't walk through a pharmacy, tell them my situation, and get free meds. That's not the world we live in."

He also noted that many others are in a similar situation.

"I see it all online," he said. "I'm one of many, many people in this situation. It's literally life or death. People don't realize that we take these medications on a daily basis."

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the US lost 701,000 jobs in March, and the national unemployment rate rose by 0.9 percentage points, bringing it to 4.4%.

People have increasingly turned to crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe to help pay medical expenses and rent, and keep their businesses afloat since the outbreak began. A third of all campaigns launched on GoFundMe in a single week in March were related to the virus.

The site had already been used by many people to crowdfund their medical expenses in the US before the outbreak: in 2017, medical campaigns made up almost half of the $2 billion raised on GoFundMe.

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