Star Trek Writer David Gerrold Saddled With Heavy Medical Bills After Being Diagonsed with Leukemia
David Gerrold is most famous for writing the Star Trek episode, “The Trouble With Tribbles,” and recently he’s made public his diagnosis of leukemia via a GoFundMe page to assist with his medical bills.
With a long career in science fiction to his name, David Gerrold is still best known for his contribution to Star Trek, with the infamous tribbles episode, which launched a secondary career selling plush toys based on his creation that still sells widely at conventions to this day.
David Gerrold has gotten himself into controversy in recent years with attacks on right wing authors in science fiction, infamously adding onto a cancelation pile on during the Sad Puppies campaign to restore the Hugo Awards to its former greatness in the mid-2010s, and like many aging writers in the field, now is faced with a medical crisis.
He elaborated as to his problems on his GoFundMePage:
I’d been putting this off, hoping it wouldn’t be necessary, but finally Sean came to me and said, “Dad, stop playing the hero. You have to do a GoFundMe. We can’t dig this hole any deeper. I saw your hospital bill.”
I said, “Sean, there are people with much worse situations, much greater needs, and people should donate to them first -- “
He stopped me again. “Dad, you had a pulmonary embolism in August. The doctor said you could have died. And you still have bills to cover from that. I saw the hospital bill, $19,000!”
“Well, Medicare and Vermont Wellcare are supposed to -- “
“But they haven’t yet. And we don’t know what they’ll cover. And there;s another $3,000 in other health related bills. And you’re still not done. They did your blood tests and found Hairy Cell Leukemia. You have six doctor’s appointments coming up between now and February. So don’t tell me that you’re fine now, I can see the difference, you’re a lot slower, your breathing is harder because you’re still recovering. You’re not Superman. You have people who care about you and want to help.”
“They want me to finish the series.”
“So let them help!”
“I really think I can manage for the next few months. I have -- “
“And what about Charlie’s vet bill? And all your other payments. I saw your finances, insetad of paying those down, you bought the new bike you promised Aiden for Christmas! You need to think about yourself right now.”
*big sigh*
“Sheesh. You do Jewish guilt better than your gramma.”
“Who do you think taught me?”
But as I said above, I don’t like to beg. So here’s something in return -- a link to the first 80 pages of “A Nest For Nightmares” the next book in the Chtorr series. I have six chapters to write to finish it. My goal is to use December and January to finish the book.
Gerrold has run several GoFundMe campaigns in the past, including one for his vet bills , one to help his child cover bills when he was struggling, as well as a couple of more that have since been taken down, another for a dog’s vet bills and one titled “A Bubble In The Cash Flow,” where he said he was struggling with finances in 2017 shortly after the Sad Puppies incident.
As he stated before, he does post new short stories to go with these, since he likes to feel like he’s giving something in return.
The current GoFundMe has been one of his most successful to date, raising more than $50,000 of the $60,000 he’s requested as of this writing, with fans outpouring generosity based on the news of his health condition. This is similar to the love shown Star Trek novel and comic writer Peter David over the last several years when he had his health problems and GoFundMe campaigns related to those.
Fandom Pulse wishes David Gerrold well and prays for a speedy recovery.
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Tribbles really did cement itself in Trek lore in a way most single episodes never manage. The tension between creative legacy and financial precarity is rough for so many writers, especially from that era when residuals weren't structured like they are now. I remeber talking to an older SF writer at a con once and the healthcare anxiety was palpable even then. The GoFundMe model fills a gap but it's also kinda sad that we've normalized crowdfunding basic medical needs. Anyway, hoping the treatment goes well and he gets to fnish the Chtorr series.
Kinda sounds like he made E-panhandling his real career tbh.