Insurance company approves surgery for Dutchess County native dying from rare cancer

Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield finally approved the surgery on Thursday after it was denied three times.

News 12 Staff

Jul 15, 2022, 2:24 AM

Updated 823 days ago

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A man who has been denied a possible lifesaving surgery finally got some good news on Thursday.
Dutchess County native Anthony Di Laura is dying from a rare form of cancer. He has been waiting to get approved for a lifesaving multi-organ transplant after surgeries and chemotherapy didn't work.
It's a surgery that has been performed successfully only once. Di Laura's his insurance company denied the surgery three times.
Di Laura's family has been trying to raise nearly $1 million for the surgery.
Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield finally approved the surgery on Thursday.
The insurance company released a statement reading in part, "Together with Mr. Di Laura's medical team, our clinical team made the decision to cover Mr. Di Laura's procedure with the surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic."
The statement went on to say that "the transplant surgeon provided additional information to demonstrate this procedure has shown early promise" to save Mr. Di Laura.