Lee Evans broke records at the 1968 Summer Olympics but today he’s in a San Francisco hospital with a brain tumor and no health insurance. 

Evans, 63, has a large tumor in the pituitary gland area of his brain, according to an email circulated to Olympians from the Mexico City Games. 

It was 43 years ago that millions of people around the world saw two African-American men––Tommie Smith and John Carlos––raise their fists in the air in a Black Power salute during the pledge of allegiance at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico. The next day Evans wore a black beret symbolic of the militant Black Panther Party on the podium after winning first place in the 400 meters.

Below The Nation provides more specifics on Evans’ current condition:

But the situation is made far worse by the fact that Lee Evans, after four decades teaching and coaching at schools ranging from the University of South Alabama to Nigeria, doesn’t have health insurance. This has meant, according to Lee’s sister, Rosemary, that he has been terribly mistreated during his hospitalization. Rosemary said to me, “I heard his doctor in the hall and I heard him say he wished [Lee] had been transferred somewhere else because he didn’t have insurance….  Lee is in intense pain. Not even morphine is helping. He hasn’t eaten in several days, yet there was no IV in his arm when I first went into his room. He’s lying in his filth and nothing is happening. If family members aren’t vigilant… If we aren’t vigilant, I don’t know what would happen.”

Below are two ways you can help immidiately:

1. Donate through PayPal. bit.ly/w53dkz

2. Checks can be sent to Rosemary Evans; 46096 Valeria Ave; Dos Palos 93620.