Dilbert creator Scott Adams reveals one phone call from Donald Trump that may have saved his life
Scott Adams announced his cancer diagnosis earlier this year with grim expectations.
His time has seemed to be running out fast.
But Scott Adams reveals one phone call from Donald Trump that may have saved his life.
The creator of the legendary Dilbert comic strip went public in May with devastating news that shocked his millions of fans.
Adams revealed he had metastatic prostate cancer that spread to his bones.
His prognosis was grim and doctors gave him just months to live.
"My life expectancy is maybe this summer," Adams said during a May episode of his Real Coffee with Scott Adams show. "I expect to be checking out from this domain sometime this summer."¹
Adams described living in constant pain while using a walker to get around as the disease ravaged his body.
The cancer was the same aggressive form that struck former President Joe Biden.
But Adams faced an additional nightmare beyond his diagnosis.
Kaiser Permanente dropped the ball on life-saving treatment
Adams received approval from his healthcare provider, Kaiser Permanente of Northern California, for a potentially life-saving treatment called Pluvicto.²
The drug is a targeted therapy for metastatic prostate cancer that the FDA approved in March for use earlier in treatment.
But there was one major problem.
Kaiser couldn't schedule him for the brief IV treatment to administer the drug.
Adams tried everything to fix the scheduling disaster on his own.
Nothing worked and his condition continued declining rapidly.
Kaiser has a documented history of failing patients when it matters most according to California state regulators.
The healthcare giant was fined over $819,000 by the California Department of Managed Health Care for delays in handling member complaints.³
Mental health clinicians reported Kaiser frequently falsifies scheduling records to avoid getting cited for lengthy appointment delays.
Patients regularly wait four weeks or more for return appointments even though California law mandates a maximum of 10 business days.
Adams watched his window for treatment closing while Kaiser's bureaucracy ground forward at a snail's pace.
He was declining fast with no help in sight from the system that was supposed to save him.
That's when Adams remembered something Trump told him back in May when he first revealed his diagnosis.
Trump personally reached out when Adams announced his cancer
Adams revealed during his podcast that Trump contacted him directly after hearing about his cancer diagnosis in May.
"If you need anything, I'll make it happen," Trump told him.⁴
Adams decided to take Trump up on that offer with his life hanging in the balance.
He posted on X Sunday morning explaining his desperate situation and asking Trump for help.
"As many of you know, I have metastasized prostate cancer," Adams wrote. "My healthcare provider, Kaiser of Northern California, has approved my application to receive a newly FDA-approved drug called Pluvicto. But they have dropped the ball in scheduling the brief IV to administer it and I can't seem to fix that."⁵
Adams noted he was "declining fast" and needed the treatment scheduled immediately.
Trump saw the message and responded within hours on Truth Social with two simple words: "On it!"
What happened next stunned Adams and showed the real power of having friends in high places.
Trump's entire inner circle mobilized to save Adams' life
Adams described the overwhelming response on his Monday podcast.
Donald Trump Jr. called him from Africa saying his father wanted him to handle it personally.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reached out asking what he could do to help.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz called wanting to know the situation.
"Oh, my God," Adams said during his podcast. "He [Trump] was so on it… it turns out that nobody in senior management at Kaiser, my healthcare company, had a good weekend."⁶
The pressure from Trump's administration worked.
Kaiser suddenly found a way to schedule Adams' treatment after months of delays.
Adams revealed he had an interview for the treatment scheduled immediately after his Monday podcast.
The process normally takes two weeks because Pluvicto has to be customized for each patient's specific situation.
But Kaiser was going to try to speed that up under pressure from the White House.
Adams learned the drug requires administration in a special nuclear medicine environment and gets tuned to each patient's unique case.
"Everybody gets a different formulation," Adams explained. "That takes two weeks, but they're going to try to speed it up."⁷
Kaiser issued a defensive statement trying to spin the situation after getting caught.
"Mr. Adams' oncology team is working closely with him on the next steps in his cancer care, which are already underway," Kaiser said. "Since it was approved by the FDA three years ago, Kaiser Permanente's nuclear medicine and medical oncology experts have treated more than 150 patients with Lu-177 PSMA (Pluvicto) in Northern California alone. We know this drug and this disease."⁸
The healthcare giant failed to explain why those experts couldn't schedule a dying man for treatment until the President intervened.
Adams now has a fighting chance thanks to Trump's personal involvement.
He's planning to pursue additional treatments beyond Pluvicto but didn't provide details during his podcast.
The creator of Dilbert said he felt bad about ruining Kaiser executives' weekends but good about potentially saving his own life.
"There's a very good chance" Trump's intervention saved his life, Adams said during Monday's podcast.
Trump showed what real leadership looks like when he mobilized his entire administration to cut through healthcare bureaucracy killing an American citizen.
Adams bet on Trump making good on his promise and it paid off with his life hanging in the balance.
¹ Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul, "'Dilbert' cartoonist Scott Adams reveals cancer diagnosis," May 19, 2025.
² Daily Caller News Foundation, "Creator of 'Dilbert' Says His Appeal for Trump's Help With Cancer Treatment May Have Saved His Life," November 3, 2025.
³ Healthcare Finance News, "Kaiser Permanente fined $819K for delays in handling member complaints."
⁴ Daily Caller News Foundation, "Creator of 'Dilbert' Says His Appeal for Trump's Help With Cancer Treatment May Have Saved His Life," November 3, 2025.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ Ibid.
