I was not going to make my own diary in the middle of the night on this subject but today is a sad day for me. I am in my late thirties. It is the 4th Christmas without my Mommy and the 2nd Christmas without my Dad.
My Dad had good health insurance. He worked for GM for over 38 years. My Daddy was diagnosed with Tongue Cancer in 2005. He was Stage 3 at the time. Since he had good insurance...he had all the treatments and his cancer actually was reduced in size. He passed away in August 15, 2007, from a infection....not the Cancer itself...because of the treatments.
My Mother..same story....no treatments...diagnosed to late because she had no insurance. Dad and Mom divorced when I was eight.
This is the story of my Mom which I will honor her with today...December 24, 2009. This is a call to get a Health Care Bill that will SAVE LIVES, like my Mother did not have the opportunity to enjoy. This is a story about CALLING OUT those individuals that will say freely KILL THE BILL after their lives was saved because they had the insurance to afford the Chemo and Radiation therapies.
I am angry, sad, mad and missing my Mommy today! If she had a Free Preventative Screening...she MIGHT still be here today. I want other women to have this opportunity.......here is her story.........
My Mother DIED from Breast Cancer in 2005. She did not go to the doctor until she was Stage 4 because she did not have ANY health insurance. At the time, she could not qualify for Medicaid because she could not afford to pay the Spin Down of $300.00 a month to gain the state Medicaid program.
When she was eligible for Medicare at 65, she finally allowed herself to go get checked. She lived eight months after diagnosis and passed away, February 9, 2005. She was only 66 years old......people are currently eligible for Medicare at 65.
I know Breast Cancer first hand, watching my Mother SUFFER for months. She refused Chemo because her Cancer was so advanced that it would not have done much good. Radiation was going to leave burn marks all over her body....so she refused that too.
She fought until the end....literally. She cried when as a STRONG African-American woman, she could not use a Hoya Lift anymore to assist herself with going to the restroom. She HATED the nurses changing her.
Two days before she passed, I knew her time was near. My brother and her had a estranged relationship and had not seen each other since the first month of her diagnosis. Her last real words to me was "Get Anthony (My Brother) back out here. I want to see my family."
I called my brother, who lived out of state, to tell him what Momma said. The next day, he caught a flight. By then, Momma was on high dose Morphine and was not eating or talking....just in a deep sleep.
He made it here to Michigan just 2 hours before my Momma passed away. Momma could not talk, could not sit up, could not squeeze his hand, tell him she loved him...nothing. But in my heart and his, we knew SHE FELT he was there.
She passed to the other side, like I stated above, shortly there after.
I told this story for ONE reason. If Momma had ANY FORM of health care in 2003 or 2004, maybe..just maybe....she would have been able to see my kids graduate from high school, see my daughter go to college, repair the relationship with my Brother or just LIVE LIFE!!
For someone like JANE HAMSHER that had Breast Cancer three times and survive to flippantly deny chance to other women is pitiful! SHE HAD HEALTH CARE THAT PAID FOR THE TREATMENTS and SHE WAS DIAGNOSED IN TIME TO FIGHT THE DISEASE. My Mother...Mommy, did not have that opportunity.
Jane will deny others in the SAME SITUATION AS MY MOMMY WAS an opportunity of life to KILL THE BILL bullshit. This is crap, this is wrong.
IT IS NOT ABOUT HER DAMN IT!! It is about how many lives this bill, even in it current form will save. ANY FORM OF Preventative Screening would have save my Mommy and now, it is IN THIS BILL!!! Guess what, those SCREENINGS are FREE.
THIS IS NOT ABOUT HER.....this is about many poor African-American, Caucasian, Asian, Latino and other ethic groups women whom LIVES WILL BE SAVE by this bill and by taking those BREAST CANCER SCREENINGS early, for FREE.
Jane needs to shove this Kill the Bill crap up her......BLEEP! She got hers so screw the rest of America. This woman is FULL OF IT!!