I could get insurance for my adult daughter with diabetes!  My letter to my Senator says it all:

Dear Senator,

            My daughter, Bronwen Shuttleworth, joined the Army in the Summer of 2001 when she was 21 years old and started boot camp on 9/11.  (On the very day.)  It was difficult, but she stuck with it and graduated from boot camp.  I was very proud of her.  Once through boot camp, I had to drop her from my medical insurance.  She was only eligible up to the age of 23 and only if she were in college.  Since she was in the Army, however, I felt assured that she would be taken care of.

           After boot camp, things begin to change for my daughter.  She couldn’t sleep at night, her moods were in a constant swing and she cried often.  She was getting more and more despondent and she was constantly thirsty.  Often the sergeants would humiliate her in front of the other soldiers when she would ask permission to go to the bathroom, which she seemed to need to do more than the others.  After five and a half months of being in the Army, she received an honorable discharge based on psychological reasons.  Had they given her this discharge after six months, two weeks later, she would have had benefits for life. 

         She left the Army with no benefits and now no medical insurance. It was too late to add her to Cobra.  A month after her discharge, she admitted herself into the hospital where she was living in Louisville, KY for some sores that wouldn’t heel.  At that time, she was diagnosed with diabetes.

         Because she had no medical insurance and no Army benefits, my daughter had to turn to the local free clinic in Louisville for medical help.  There they misdiagnosed her with Type 2 diabetes and thought that she could control it with diet and sugar pills.  For a year my daughter suffered with this misinformation.  Being 5’ 10”, she thinned from a size 12 to a size 4.  Her hair thinned and she was often too tired to stay up past 8:00 at night.  She was always hungry, but her body couldn’t process the nutrients in the food she was eating, so she was starving to death.

         Fortunately, the clinic had hired a new doctor and they started her on insulin, realizing she was a Type 1 diabetic.  The method, medicine and needles they used were rather primitive in relation to what the state of the art practice is today, but the insulin worked wonders on my daughter.  Her mood swings stopped, which weren’t mood swings at all, but blood sugar levels playing havoc with her body.  She regained her health, her vitality and could think clearly.  She went back to school, to a local community college, and got on the Dean’s list each semester.  She then transferred to the University of Virginia, where she graduated last year in Archaeology.  She is now a healthy, practicing archaeologist working and living in Wyoming.

         My daughter’s story is not over yet.  So far it’s a happy one.  Because of insulin, she is a strong, healthy citizen of our country, taking care of herself while contributing to the welfare of us all.  But up until now, she has relied on the free clinics in various areas (Louisville, UVa while a student and now Wyoming), for her medical care.  She will always have to rely on free clinics, no matter how much she works or how sick she becomes.  She will never be able to have medical insurance.  She has a “pre-existing condition.”  Worse yet, as she ages, (she is now only 29), the diabetes will only wear on her body more and more and she will begin to have complications from it.  (Her eyesight has already been affected, and she has had to turn to the Lions Club for free glasses.)  In the future, will she be denied good medical care because of her “pre-existing condition?’ 

               My daughter tried to serve her country but couldn’t because of her disease.  We are a hard working, tax paying family.  We have always taken care of ourselves and given to our community.  But some things are bigger than what a single family or individual can do.  Some things can only be done best through our country’s government.  Please support health care reform.  Please allow our country to take care of those who need it so that they can, in turn, take care of their country.

Thank you,

Megan Marlatt

Orange, Virginia