Joe Glinski

Joe Glinski, who fought Medicaid for more than a year to get a liver transplant, died early Friday morning at Treasure Coast Hospices in Stuart. He was 54.

The Palm Beach Post reported on Mr. Glinski's struggle to get a liver transplant in November 2004. Mr. Glinski had a tumor on his liver and despite his doctors' belief that he was a good candidate for a transplant, Medicaid denied his request, saying the tumor was 1 centimeter too long to meet state criteria.

Mr. Glinski was frustrated that a bureaucratic decision kept him from a treatment that could save his life.

Transplants cost as much as $300,000. Mr. Glinski and his friends tried to raise the $200,000 necessary to put him on the organ transplant waiting list, but they stopped when Mr. Glinski's doctors told them the delay had lowered his chance of survival.

"He carried God with him wherever he went. God flowed through him," said his girlfriend, Valerie Van Halteren. "He didn't want to ask people to help him."

Mr. Glinski, who was born in Philadelphia, was diagnosed with liver cancer in August 2003. Before that, he was running a tile and marble construction company, and counseling recovering drug and alcohol addicts. When a hospice worker came to Mr. Glinski's house, he gave her advice on how to help her nephew who was struggling with alcoholism, said his friend Joe Bryan.

"His primary care in life was reaching out and helping others," Bryan said. "She walked out the door and said, 'As a case worker that is the first time I've gotten more than I've given.' "

Mr. Glinski is survived by Van Halteren; his son, Joseph S. Glinski III, of Davie; daughters Christine M. Glinski of Dupont, Wash., Melanie F. Glinski of Atlanta, and Julia C. Glinski of Jensen Beach. He is also survived by his brother, Michael A. Glinski, and three grandchildren.