For a dear friend - Julie - who can't speak for herself now, except through me.

She died several years ago because she didn't have health insurance and couldn't afford to pay privately for all the tests and hospital fees for her cancer.

She came to me one day and said, Sandra, look at this.  On her chest was a 2" growth that looked like a mini cauliflower, I was shocked and told her to immediately get it attended to, she said she couldn't, she didn't have insurance or the money to pay for all the tests etc.  I was frantic with worry for her, she was 62, not yet old enough for Medicare, not eligible for Medicaide due to some paltry assets she owned.  She brushed the whole thing off, she just had to live with it, she didn't seem frightened or worried, she seemed stoic. I cried that night and prayed for her.

Many times over a 2 week period, I begged her to go to the emergency room, she eventually did when she was in so much pain she couldn't hardly move, they sent her home with pain killers.  I was so angry and yet everything seemed futile, she said her stomach hurt, "it was probably kidney stones", she said.

I'd never seen cancer up close and personal and I couldn't do a thing, except to tell her how much I loved her.  It made me mad that she was not being provided for, helped by the medical profession. She would smile and say she had God on her side.  One evening two weeks later she went back to the emergency room, finally they admitted her, her body was riddled with cancer, she died the next morning.

We gave her a memorial by the ocean in Jupiter, Florida, we sprinkled rose petals on the water, we sang uplifting spiritual songs for her, I was happy she was finally gone from her cancer body.  "What a waste", I kept thinking, "such a beautiful spirit, who had so much to give the world, she had so much wisdom and love and caring for all - the one thing that could have saved her from the hell she was quietly enduring was not available to her - who cared?"

I CARE Julie and so does President Obama and so do all the Democrats who voted last night so that people like you will not be taken from us again in this horrible way. So that ALL Americans, like you Julie, will be given a chance to live a healthy and productive life. I MISS YOU MY DEAR.

Thank you Mr. President and Nancy Poloski and all who voted -THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!