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After a major insurance company denied coverage for a medical flight that could save her daughter\u2019s life, Alexandria McMahon took the story to social media and caught the attention of billionaire Mark Cuban.<\/p>\n
Stella McMahon was diagnosed with T-cell leukemia at just four months old. Now, a year later to the day, she\u2019s been fighting relentless fevers above 104 degrees for nearly a month; her liver\u2019s overtaxed, and her body\u2019s too immunocompromised to ward off a virus on its own. The cruel irony of Stella\u2019s condition: because she has T-cell leukemia, her doctors at Children\u2019s Minnesota had successfully eradicated her T-cells, the very cells she needed to fight the virus now threatening her life.<\/p>\n
The McMahon Family<\/p>\n
Her oncologist, Dr. Lane Miller, identified a solution: a federally funded study at Cincinnati Children\u2019s Hospital in which genetically modified T-cells, donated and engineered in a lab, are transfused into the patient. The procedure itself was covered. The medical flight to get Stella there was not.<\/p>\n
Her mom, Alexandria, submitted a pre-authorization request through the family\u2019s major insurance provider on a Sunday, March 15. For five days, she heard nothing. \u201cI called them on a Friday just to try to understand what was happening, like why it was taking so long,\u201d she told\u00a0Fortune, while the sounds of little Stella were heard in the background. \u201cAnd from that phone call, I learned that we had actually been denied.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n
The silence, she said, was devastating in its timing. \u201cTo be denied on a Friday from a major business was quite a hit, because they\u2019re closed on the weekend, and they said that they wouldn\u2019t be getting back to us for 24 to 72 hours, business days.\u201d\u200b Dr. Miller, McMahon explained, said it was imperative that little 16-month-old Stella receive treatment immediately.<\/p>\n
When she pressed the representative for an explanation, she ran into a wall. \u201cShe couldn\u2019t tell me the reason why they denied because I didn\u2019t have a medical degree,\u201d McMahon recalled. \u201cI asked her to read [the policy] with me line by line and tell me at what point Stella became disqualified. Because when I read it with my eyes, it looked like everything should be approved.\u201d She recorded the conversation, a decision that would change everything.\u200b<\/p>\n
TikTok video leads to a breakthrough<\/p>\n
McMahon posted the recorded call on social media, and shortly after, it went viral. \u201cI think within about 12 hours, Dr. Warris, who runs Claimable, one of Mark Cuban\u2019s companies, he said, \u2018Mark Cuban saw your video, and he wants me to take care of this for you,’\u201d McMahon said.\u200b<\/p>\n
Claimable, co-founded by Dr. Warris Bokhari, a former NHS physician and healthcare strategist, uses AI to help patients and families navigate and appeal insurance denials. The company\u2019s mission is to \u201camplify your voice, combining it with cutting-edge science and policy insights to help protect your rights,\u201d according to its website.\u200b<\/p>\n
Cuban, who has long been a vocal critic of the American healthcare system, wrote on his blog in Jan. 2025 that \u201chealthcare is a very simple industry made complicated,\u201d arguing for radical transparency and the removal of insurance companies from the payment equation. His other healthcare venture, Cost Plus Drugs, has similarly sought to reduce opacity in pharmaceutical pricing.<\/p>\n
The McMahon Family<\/p>\n
Cuban\u2019s big credit limit and bigger heart<\/p>\n
Within 48 hours, the McMahons were on a chartered medical aircraft to Cincinnati, paid for by Cuban and Claimable. \u201cThe hospital case manager was able to book a medical flight with Mark Cuban and Claimable\u2019s money,\u201d McMahon clarified.\u200b<\/p>\n
The trip needed to happen in a single day. Cincinnati Children\u2019s Hospital did not admit Stella to its campus; she had to remain based in Minneapolis. With Stella connected to five or six pumps, driving was never a realistic option. \u201cShe could not ethically be discharged,\u201d McMahon explained, saying the family was so desperate to get Stella her treatment, no idea was too out there. \u201cWe were considering renting an RV and just trying.\u201d Even that possibility was off the table, given Stella\u2019s medical needs. A friend of her husband\u2019s who works for Delta had also offered a plane, but that would have meant discharging Stella without medical support and \u201choping for the best.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n
Instead, Cuban\u2019s team moved fast. \u201cHe basically laid down a credit card right then and there, and said, \u2018 Book the flight, book a medical flight,\u201d McMahon said. \u201cAnd we are going to help you fight insurance after she gets taken care of. Stella is the most important.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n
For McMahon, the speed and generosity of the response were difficult to fully absorb while simultaneously watching her daughter struggle. \u201cWe are dramatically humbled. We are so thankful that this happened,\u201d she said. \u201cI still feel like it\u2019s unbelievable. I still feel like I\u2019m kind of coming down from something that was just so exciting and so positive. And it felt weird being so incredibly happy and ecstatic and thankful while watching my daughter clearly struggle.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n
She had no prior knowledge of Cuban\u2019s track record of intervening in cases like Stella\u2019s until the outpouring of comments on her videos. \u201cI had no idea that this person could do something so amazing,\u201d she said. \u201cHe has the resources, and he has the heart, and he did it.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n
The McMahon Family<\/p>\n
Inspiration to pay it forward<\/p>\n
At the time of Fortune\u2018s interview on Thursday, Stella was showing her first signs of improvement: less jaundiced, her eyes beginning to clear. She was still running fevers above 104 degrees, and her doctors cautioned that the T-cell study can take five to seven days before showing results. But she had avoided an ICU stay. \u201cStella is now stable,\u201d McMahon said. \u201cShe got everything she needs. We\u2019re where we need to be, and it is all thanks to human connection.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n
A GoFundMe organized to help the family cover costs, including lost income for McMahon\u2019s husband, who works in aviation and has had to take time off, had raised over $42,000 toward a $50,000 goal from more than 870 donors as of publication.<\/p>\n
McMahon said she hopes to use the attention Stella\u2019s story has drawn to advocate for other families facing the same walls. \u201cIf I can turn around and give back to people, I will,\u201d she said. \u201cI will carry this and try to pay it forward for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The McMahon Family<\/p>\n
#toddler #needed #lifesaving #flight #insurer #Mark #Cuban #called<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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