Cancer survivor DonnaMarie Woodson: “It’s no exaggeration to say that the Affordable Care Act saved my life. If it weren’t for the coverage I gained through the ACA, I never would have known about the disease that was spreading through my body.”
Raleigh – In an op-ed published just before Donald Trump’s arrival in North Carolina yesterday, two-time cancer survivor and Charlotte resident DonnaMarie Woodson slammed Republicans’ “heartless” crusade to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which provides benefits to millions of North Carolinians.

Woodson was diagnosed with colon and breast cancer shortly after gaining health insurance through the ACA — diagnoses she otherwise would not have gotten. “Donald Trump has pledged to do everything he can to eliminate the ACA and the various protections it provides to millions of North Carolinians,” she wrote, “and while his promises usually don’t mean much, this time, I think we should take him at his word.”

Highlights: 

• Once the Affordable Care Act was passed, my husband and I qualified to purchase insurance through the marketplace so we were able to get health coverage again after several years of being uninsured.
• I was finally able to schedule the appointments I had been putting off, and the first ones I went in for were a colonoscopy and my mammogram. After my colonoscopy, my doctor told me he was almost certain I had colon cancer, and sure enough, it was stage three.
• It’s no exaggeration to say that the Affordable Care Act saved my life. If it weren’t for the coverage I gained through the ACA, I never would have known about the disease that was spreading through my body.
• And if not for that coverage, I wouldn’t have been able to afford the $8,000 cost of every one of my chemotherapy treatments I received every two weeks for six months.
• There is a cruel irony in the fact that Donald Trump will travel to my home of Charlotte today to talk about health care. Perhaps the only consistent position Donald Trump has always held is his commitment to dismantling the ACA, throwing people like me into financial and medical uncertainty.
• With control of Congress, the White House and now the Supreme Court all on the line in the next 40 days, Donald Trump and the Republicans have made it clear that they won’t stop fighting to undo the ACA and rip away the coverage and health protections that so many Americans like myself depend on.

Read the full op-ed HERE.