Beloved Coach, 60, Dies of Cancer After Chemo Drug Halted amid Nationwide Shortage: 'It Was Horrible'

Jeff Bolle, 60, died of cancer seven months after losing access to his chemotherapy drug amid the nationwide drug shortage

A Wisconsin man died after his year-long journey to beat cancer was halted due to the nationwide drug shortage.

Jeff Bolle, 60, was diagnosed with stage 4 bile duct cancer in late 2022, learning his disease has a low long-term survival rate. But doctors grew optimistic after he underwent surgery and four rounds of chemotherapy.

However, with two rounds remaining, Jeff was forced to abruptly stop treatment in May 2023. The high school football coach and guidance counselor was suddenly unable to receive his medication cisplatin, one of numerous chemotherapy drugs impacted by the ongoing nationwide shortage.

Jeff’s cancer ultimately progressed as it went untreated for months. His wife Connie Bolle recalled doctors telling her in September 2023 that "there was really nothing else they could do, which was hard to hear."

“There was no immunotherapy. There was no other chemotherapy," she told TODAY.

Jeff died December 29, 2023, seven months after losing access to his chemotherapy drugs.

“He was never able to get on cisplatin [again],” Connie told the outlet. “His cancer was just continuing to grow, and his bile ducts were getting compromised because the cancer was pushing on them even more. He was really getting so very sick. It was horrible.”

“I just keep wondering, ‘What if we had gotten the cisplatin? Could it have slowed his cancer down?” she added. “Would he have been able to coach even more? Would he have been stronger? Would he have felt better? ... It’s always a second guess.”

Related: Drug Shortages in the U.S. Reach All-Time High, Including Medications for Chemotherapy, ADHD and Severe Allergies

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In April, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and Utah Drug Information Service released a report revealing that drug shortages have reached an all-time high in the United States.

During the first three months of 2024, there were 323 drugs in active shortage. The organizations began tracking drug shortages in 2001 and the previous record was in 2014 with 320 medications in active shortage.

Among the medications affected are 32 chemotherapy drugs, EpiPens, ADHD medications like Adderall, diabetes drug Ozempic, pain and sedation medications, common antibiotics like amoxicillin, and more.

“All drug classes are vulnerable to shortages,” Paul Abramowitz, ASHP’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Some of the most worrying shortages involve generic sterile injectable medications, including cancer chemotherapy drugs and emergency medications stored in hospital crash carts and procedural areas. Ongoing national shortages of therapies for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder also remain a serious challenge for clinicians and patients.”

Increased demand as well as manufacturing and quality problems can cause a drug shortage. Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services published a white paper attributing the shortages to “market failures and misaligned incentives.”

The ASHP has been working with the federal government to address the shortages.

“We all know that managing shortages isn’t enough and is not a sustainable solution to the worsening crisis…Much work remains to be done at the federal level to fix the root causes of drug shortages,” Abramowitz said. “It’s long past time to put an end to drug shortages.”

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