Well Fellow Kossacks, its been a long week. I wrote a diary the other morning for my great Congressional candidate Heather Ryan. Soon after writing this I became very dizzy and light-headed. My vision had been blurry for a few days. It turned out that my blood-sugar was 529. I was admitted into the Intensive Care Unit at a local hospital and diagnosed at the not-so-tender age of 37 with Juvenile Diabetes.
This has been a very trying time for me. In my 37 years I had never stayed a night in the hospital for anything. Now, my life is going to change. No longer will I be a big eater like I used to. I lived my 37 years as healthy as an ox, or so I thought. Now, I realize how precious life and health really are.
I remember being a kid and idolizing Ron Santo, the old third baseman of the Chicago Cubs. Now, I have another reason to respect my old hero even more. You see, Ron Santo lived and played baseball in a day and age when not much was known about our shared disease. He never got treated right for this disease. He has paid the price for it later in life, losing both his legs under the knees.
How that man ever stood up at the plate and hit a ball thrown by such great major league pitchers as Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton among others with his vision as blurred as mine I will never understand. All of it makes me think that this man may have been the greatest ballplayer ever under the circumstances that he played. I thought I understood what he did before, but now I know. So Ronny, the old third baseman, you always had my respect and admiration. Now, you can add complete and total awe to that list. From this newly diagnosed Type 1 Diabetic, thanks for all you have done to advance the cause of people like myself with this disease. You are simply an American legend in my eyes, and Baseball's Hall of Fame show just how completely idiotic and out of touch they are with the real world every time they refuse your admission into Cooperstown. One thing I can assure especially now is that you are in MY Hall of Fame and will forever be.
I have been down for several days now. I finally realized the hospital I am in has computers on the first level that I can use, albeit sparingly. I went through a short bout of depression after realizing that my health, which I always fell back on is gone. However now, I realize that so many people are fighting this disease along with me and it is an inspiration to me. I will not roll over and die, and will continue to fight with every fibre of my being for what I believe in. I will do it even harder now, because for the first time in my life I realize just how fragile my life really is, and how it can all end in just a few minutes.
One thing I believe in to the core of my soul is the fight for One America. There are two Americas. I just got health insurance a few weeks ago from the school I go to, but for 36 years I had none. I never went to the doctor or got check ups because I couldn't afford them. It almost cost me my life.
Our campaign for John Edwards may have been suspended, but my fight for One America will continue as long as God allows me to draw breath on this earth. I feel even more strongly about that now that depression has passed and I have quit feeling sorry for myself. This fight is simply to important, and too many of my fellow Americans have been left behind for me to ever be silent and ignore that anymore.
Although Edwards is out I have found another candidate running for my House seat who believes that we live in Two Americas. She believes in the values and ideals left behind from the Edwards campaign that every American deserves healthcare, and a chance to see a doctor:
It is an absolute travesty that 50 million Americans struggle without health care in the
wealthiest nation in the world. What's worse is when our representative votes against
improvements in access to health services for children and the poor. Unfortunately, these are
both realities that we've experienced under the current leadership. I propose that health
care for every American is more important than tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.
It is time we had a representative who thinks about more than just how much money he can
make when he helps pass legislation that benefits drug and insurance companies. As the
leaders of the free world, it is an embarrassment that we are the only industrialized nation
that does not offer health care for our citizens.
http://www.ryanforkentucky.com/...
I now realize the painful truth of these statements. Although I got healthcare added to my tuition at school, when I graduate those benefits will be gone, and once again I will be among those 50 million left behind for corporate greed. Only this time I will be Diabetic.
Folks, we can't play around with this problem anymore. We HAVE to elect leaders who believe in fighting for healthcare for all Americans. This is a HUGE moral issue for our time. We simply must make sure ALL Americans have access to the healthcare they may need without fear of finacially destroying themselves if they get it.
That is why I proudly joined the fight for One America with John Edwards, and I proudly am fighting for Heather Ryan, Democrat in Kentucky's First. I now have seen firsthand the reasons they believe like they do.
While the Edwards campaign is suspended the fight for One America continues. For me, it continues in fighting for Heather Ryan, because she understands as Edwards did that when America leaves huge portions of its population behind we are no longer America. She understands that corporate greed has overrode basic human compassion in our Democracy and wants to fight against it. I am in this fight with her to the end, be it bitter or sweet.
I had started a drive to raise $1500 for Heather Ryan by the time of Kentucky's primary which she is unopposed in on May 20. The last few days I have had little time to try and ad to those numbers. I would like to ask anyone here who wants to fight for One America as we do to help me towards my goal here:
http://www.actblue.com/...
We are up against a huge special interest candidate and defender of the status-quo, Ed Whitfield, and his boss, Mitch McConnell and the mighty McConnell machine here in Kentucky. With your help we can defeat Whitfield, slap McConnell in the face, and send a fighter to Congess who will tirelessly promote the agenda to create One America. Please help!!
Nothing is more important in this elections than putting leaders in the Congress who will fight for One America.