Sherraye Speaks -- What About The Children?

She said she couldn't breathe. I thought she just wanted to get out of washing the dishes. Later that night, she got worse. I put her in the car and headed to the emergency room. As I was about to hit the entrance ramp to I-95, I thought about the bill. Money was already tight and because I was in the middle of a career transition, I didn't have health insurance. I told my daughter that I would just stop by CVS and get some anti nausea medicine. I thought she just had a stomach flu. She stopped vomiting, but something worse was looming.

The next day, when I got home from work, my daughter was lying in a pool of urine, she was breathing laboriously, and she was non responsive. Still, I thought she was just really, really dehydrated and needed to get some fluids in her system. I called 911, they took her to the ER, I got there a few minutes later and a doctor escorted me to a private area. "Your daughter has diabetes," he announced. "She is in a coma."

I was in shock.

He explained that they were giving her insulin to bring her blood sugar down. I felt so bad and the gravity of the situation had not sunk in. But it was about to.

A chaplain came in to pray with me. That's when I knew something was wrong. I summoned the doctor and asked him why I needed a chaplain. He told me that normal blood sugar is around 140. Your daughter's is 1200. He said that he didn't expect her to make it through the night. She was transferred to Nemours and the prognosis was no better over there. They told me she had 4 maybe 5 hours to live. If she lived, she would be a vegetable because of the swelling of her brain.

It had come to this.

I didn't get her to the Emergency Room sooner because I was worried about the bill. My child almost died because I was worried about how I was going to pay the bill.

Those of you who claim to be Christians but oppose universal healthcare, let me ask you a question. What would Jesus Do? Didn't he say, suffer the little children to come unto me? Doesn't the Bible that you claim to believe in say they who give to the poor lendeth to the Lord? Or did you skip that part? Some of you need to check yourself. You say you are a Christian but you have no compassion for the less fortunate and you have none of the attributes of Jesus. There is no fruit blossoming in your life. You are cold, heartless, and devoid of love. You're not a Christian because you are nothing like Christ.

I looked that doctor in his eyes after he told me my child, my first born, had 5 hours to live and I said to him, "She will be fine." And she was, thanks to the prayers of REAL Christians and the compassion of those wonderful nurses and doctors. My baby is a walking miracle. But you know what? She shouldn't have needed a miracle. I should have been able to take her to the doctor before the crisis hit. In a country as rich as ours, the fact that any man, woman, boy, or girl has died or may die because of lack of finances is ridiculous. If we can spend a billion dollars a month fighting a war then so what if we spend 900 billion dollars to give every American access to quality health care.

So I support MY president in his efforts to provide health care to every American regardless to their financial prowess or socioeconomic status. No one should die or go broke because they can't afford healthcare. If you don't feel the same, then shame on you. Take that cross from around your neck and throw your Bible in the garbage. You obviously don't believe in it.