Pharmacist pays for woman's prescription after insurance wouldn't cover it

BROCKTON, Mass. — A stranger's kindness made the world of a difference for a young mother battling cancer.

Jamie Occhipinti was first diagnosed with stage four colon cancer at the age of 22, which has since spread.

"It’s been a long road but I’m doing it," said Occhipinti. "Now I'm battling it in my spine."

Occhipinti's doctors believe a tumor on her spine is hitting a nerve and causing her severe pain, so they prescribed her a nerve pain medication.

However, when she went to fill her prescription at the Walgreens on Main Street in Brockton, she was taken aback by the price tag on the pills.

"They told me it was going to be like 900 dollars – and I was like, that’s just crazy, I don’t have that," said Occhipinti.

Despite a prior authorization, Occhipinti's insurance wouldn't cover the drug, so the pharmacist called the drugmaker, who offered a discount, but it was still too much.

“What’s going through my mind is this girl is in pain, we just left the hospital at 3am [and] we are going to be back in the hospital again," said Thomas Scopa, Occhipinti's boyfriend.

After seeing her go home empty-handed, Natarsha Terry, the pharmacist who assisted Occhipinti, along with her family offered to pay to cover some of Occhipinti's prescription. Terry's noble gesture was able to cover about $80 worth, enough to get Occhipinti through the next few days.

"She said I’m going to pay for it, don’t worry about it," said Occhipinti. "Thank god for her because I don’t know what else I would have done.”

The couple and their four-year-old daughter went back to the pharmacy to pick up the pills and say thank you.

“You don’t see that much anymore around here so what she did and what her family did is unbelievable to me," said Scopa.

"There’s only one in a million people out there like that – so I feel blessed," said Occhipinti.

Boston 25 News reached out to the pharmacist who was not able to do an interview but said she was just happy her family could help.

On Tuesday, a day after Boston 25 News aired Occhipinti's story, a viewer stepped up to help.

Cathy O'Grady, from Sofia's Angels, paid the remaining balance for Occhipinti's prescription.

"She was rationing her pills," said O'Grady. "She was supposed to take two a day and she was taking one a day because she wanted them to last and nobody should have to go without that stuff."

O'Grady also said that, if Occhipinti needs a refill next month, Sofia's Angels will be more than happy to help again.

Cox Media Group