When the Republicans in Congress introduced their replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act, I felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach. Kicked in the stomach by their callousness. Kicked in the stomach by the grief and trauma of remembering life (and death) before Obamacare.

I took to Twitter to tell my story – or at least what could fit into 20 tweets of 140 characters or less. There’s much more to tell here. I didn’t mention that my husband was only 33 when he was diagnosed with cancer, for example. That I was 34 when I was widowed.

I don’t like to talk much about this part of my life. It’s too painful to revisit, even though I am aware that both my son and I carry that pain with us all the time. But I wanted to tell this story publicly because the Republicans want to dismantle what’s already a pretty flawed health care system in this country just so they can give tax breaks to the richest Americans.

That is shameful.

People will suffer. People will die.

My Story (Or, Part of It)

Art credits: Anthony Vanderford