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“Pay the damn consequences yourself.”Free lung tests for smokers? Influencer with sick child horrified
Vanessa Lock and daughter Leni. The girl was born seriously ill.
Vanessa Lock
“How the hell can that be?!”
Influencer and author “Vanezia Blum” feels that she is being treated unfairly by the healthcare system and is now venting her anger on social networks. While important funds are literally being blown into the air for smokers, sick children are left behind. The mother of two curses: “We have to fight for every little shitty achievement.”
“Vanezia Blum” is upset about free lung cancer screening for smokers
“Vanezia Blum”, whose real name is Vanessa Lock, is now sharing her frustration with her 433,000 Instagram followers: “We are currently paying over €7,000 out of our own pocket so that we can give our daughter a better quality of life. She was born sick and since then we have been fighting for every single achievement. And now smokers who damage all of their body's organs every day, thereby having a greatly increased risk of cancer as well as an increased risk of heart attack and stroke – ALL self-inflicted – are allowed to take advantage of free lung cancer screenings based on their own decisions. As far as I’m concerned, smoke four packs a day and smoke 24/7, but bear the damn consequences yourself financially.” With these emotionally charged words, the mother of two from Urbar near Koblenz finds the open ears of her followers.
“I’m just completely stunned!”
Background to her excitement: Since April 1, 2026, statutory health insurance companies have been covering the costs of lung cancer screening for active and former heavy smokers – aged 50 to 75 years. Reason: Cigarette consumption has been proven to increase the risk of lung cancer. The early detection service aims to detect tumors in a timely manner, cure them and increase the chances of survival. The fact that Vanessa has to fight and pay for medical services, while some people would “simply” get examinations like this for free, is what makes it so Influencer and book author angry: “We're really talking about existential things like physical therapy, like occupational therapy (…), every single rehab. (…) We pay for it ourselves. And I just ask myself: How the hell can that be? “I’m just completely stunned,” she explains in a video.
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Young mother describes daughter Leni's hard fate with touching words
Six days after the birth of her three-year-old daughter Leni, Vanessa notices that something is wrong. It follows “one troubling odyssey of hospital stays, examinations and sleepless nights,” she wrote last year about her book: “Dear Leni, you are a miracle.” The mother of two also speaks openly about her little daughter's emotions and health on Instagram: “Our daughter Leni lives with half a brain. Due to a severe form of structural epilepsy, her right half of her brain had to be functionally separated when she was just 8 months old.” The fact that Vanessa is now upset about what she sees as an unfair healthcare system is met with encouragement and sympathy from hundreds of people: “This all makes me so angry,” writes one user. Another adds: “100% correct, what you said…We also have a child with a disability and can only confirm this. (…) ridiculous and deeply sad.” Others, on the other hand, can also see something positive in the new health insurance benefit for smokers: “If lung cancer is detected early enough, the costs will be significantly lower than if it is too late and chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiotherapy are announced.”
Sources used: Instagram, German Cancer Research Center
