taught himself arabic. he played more than 16 musical instrumented and earned his phd in his 60s. so when terence was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2000, he was determined to beat it. his wife, amanda bennett, says they never gave much thought to how much it would cost. they had health care coverage. that first operation to remove his kidney you say cost about $25,000. this was just the beginning. right. it was just the beginning. reporter: did you see bills along the way or it s not like you re shopping for a car. you don t go in and say to the hospital, i m about to buy this kidney surgery, how much is it going to cost me? reporter: but terence s fight wasn t finished. two years after it was first discovered, february 2002, a routine follow-up showed the cancer had spread. terence started taking the drug innerliukin 2 at $7,500 a dose. the costs were starting to add up to a price tag that would stun amanda. in december 2005, another setback. cancer had started to grow in
he started avastin, a free clinical trial, but the second time he needed it, it cost plenty. right here you can see it was charged at $27,360 for a dose of the avastin. for one dose? $27,000. one dose. reporter: over the course of his illness, terence had more than 60 chest scans, each about $3,200. and the last drug he took was at $200 a pill. $200 a pill? per pill. and how often did he take that? every day. reporter: that lasted about a month, because in december 2007, terence was rushed to the hospital. the cancer was in his brain. for the four days doctors worked to save him, they billed more than $43,000. that s more than $10,000 a day. really, the only thing i can say for certain that we spent that money on was to confirm that he was dying. reporter: on december 14th, seven years after his diagnosis,
they re big numbers and add up quickly and your insurance doesn t always cover everything. randi kaye has one family s story. reporter: terence foley embraced life. he spoke six languages, even taught himself arabic. he played more than 16 musical instrumented and earned his phd in his 60s. so when terence was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2000, he was determined to beat it. his wife, amanda bennett, says they never gave much thought to how much it would cost. they had health care coverage. that first operation to remove his kidney you say cost about $25,000. this was just the beginning. right. it was just the beginning. reporter: did you see bills along the way or it s not like you re shopping for a car. you don t go in and say to the hospital, i m about to buy this kidney surgery, how much is it going to cost me? reporter: but terence s fight wasn t finished. two years after it was first discovered, february 2002, a routine follow-up showed the cancer had spread. terenc
thing. fully three quarters of people who live to age 65 will develop cancer, heart disease, chronic lung disease, dementia or are going to have a stroke in their last year of life. and all of that is costly. let s show you how some of those numbers break down. the estimated lifetime cost of treating a stroke, for example, in a senior, $100,000. for heart disease, conservative price tag, around $121,000 over 20 years. that s without surgery. and if you need surgery, many people do, costs can run more than $4 million. for prostate cancer treatment, the cost is around $41,000. and the average cost of a nursing home per year, $42,000 to $70,000. for an alzheimer s patient, the estimated life tom cost, $174,000. they re big numbers and add up quickly and your insurance doesn t always cover everything. randi kaye has one family s story. reporter: terence foley embraced life. he spoke six languages, even
innerliukin 2 at $7,500 a dose. the costs were starting to add up to a price tag that would stun amanda. in december 2005, another setback. cancer had started to grow in terence s lungs. he started avastin, a free clinical trial, but the second time he needed it, it cost plenty. right here you can see it was charged at $27,360 for a dose of the avastin. for one dose $27,000. one dose. reporter: over the course of his illness, terence had more than 60 chest scans, each about $3,200. and the last drug he took was at $200 a pill. $200 a pill? per pill. and how often did he take that? every day. reporter: that lasted about a month, because in december 2007, terence was rushed to the hospital. the cancer was in his brain. for the four days doctors worked