A young man who should still be here...but the cost of breathing became too high. Some stories break your heart quietly. Others expose a truth so painful that you can’t ignore it. The story of 22‑year‑old Cole Schmidtknecht does both. Cole had lived with asthma since childhood. It wasn’t new, it wasn’t unpredictable...it was something he managed responsibly with the same inhaler he’d been prescribed since he was 13. For years, that inhaler cost him around $66, a price he could handle while working, paying rent, and taking care of himself. But everything changed on January 10, 2024. Cole went to Walgreens expecting to refill his usual prescription. Instead, he was told his inhaler was no longer covered by insurance. The new price? $539.19. A jump of nearly $500 overnight. Cole didn’t have that kind of money. Not after paying rent. Not after covering the basic bills that keep a young adult afloat. So he made the choice so many people make in silence: He paid his rent. He left the pharmacy with only a rescue inhaler — the kind meant for emergencies, not daily prevention. He told himself he’d be okay until payday. Five days later, Cole suffered a severe asthma attack. His roommate rushed him to the hospital. Despite every effort to save him, Cole Schmidtknecht passed away on January 21, 2024, at just 22 years old. His rescue inhaler was found empty

beside his bed. Cole didn’t pass away because he didn’t care about his health. He didn’t pass away because he was irresponsible. He didn’t pass away because he ignored warning signs. Cole passed away because the medication he needed to breathe — literally breathe...became unaffordable without warning. His parents, Shanon and William Schmidtknecht, are now fighting for answers. They’ve filed a lawsuit alleging that Cole was never informed of the price increase and was not offered generic alternatives that could have saved his life. This wasn’t just a tragedy. It was preventable. Cole’s story forces us to confront a reality too many families already know: in America, survival often depends on a dollar amount. People are forced to choose between rent and medication, groceries and insulin, utilities and inhalers. Cole paid his rent. He handled his responsibilities. He tried to stretch what little he had. He tried to make it to the next check. But the system didn’t stretch with him. His life should not have been reduced to a price tag. His breath should not have depended on an insurance code. His passing should not have been the cost of a medication he had been safely using for years. Cole Schmidtknecht deserved better. And his story deserves to be told...loudly, clearly, and repeatedly — until no one else has to choose between a roof over their head and the air in their lungs.