“Inertia is a powerful force.”

Follow the ripples from Bernard Madoff's pebble in a pond (more like turd in a punchbowl)...the havoc just goes on and on. Not only did scores of charities invest their entire portfolios with Madoff, but many of the wealthiest donors to those charities have also been wiped out, so the charities and the thousands of people they served have also been devastated. David, a leukemia patient, reminds us that a few middle class suckers got caught in the net, too; their suffering is proportionately greater and in David's case, there probably isn't an opportunity to replenish the funds that were lost.

Nobody expects to be a victim of the world’s largest Ponzi scheme, especially after so many years, and especially by a man who was both a family friend and a respected Wall Streeter who had actually been hired as a consultant by the Securities and Exchange Commission at one point.

...The Madoff mess has taken a toll on its victims in different ways. There is the obvious shock, the feeling of betrayal, the loss of security, the anger and the depression. I have been through all that, but I also have a potentially fatal leukemia and that means I have a somewhat different perspective.

Read the whole thing to appreciate his lessons in conclusion - lessons for all of us. A moving tale found through GrowABrain: Bernie Madoff Screws Leukemia Patient.