A Letter to the President

So many of us would like to have our voices heard.  Maybe you've wanted to write to the President of the United States, but procrastinated, thinking it would end up in an oval office shredder.

This is one woman's recent correspondence.

April 17, 2013

Dear President Obama,
In a recent press conference, you stated, "As humans we can identify galaxies light-years away. We can study particles smaller than an atom, but we still haven't unlocked the mystery of the three pounds of matter that sits between our ears."

On April 1st, surgeons removed a 7.5 lb. mass from my abdomen and three additional cysts from my left fallopian tube. Pathology results proved the same conclusion, another mystery of life. My mother, who has stage four breast cancer had surgery in February to remove a cancerous tumor, along with her left breast. A second surgery looms for her, but we don’t know how much time she has.

We have survived the recession until this point, although I’ve needed to borrow funds to keep my self-employed business alive, incurring more debt. Within the last two months, we have hit a wall with no work, medical bills arriving and facing home foreclosure. We have had my mother’s home for sale since 2005 and I know that I will have to prepare to lose my own home as well. Every application I have completed with Federal and State government agencies who have been designed to help the elderly and the disabled are finding us ineligible.

I am 59 years of age, challenged with rheumatoid arthritis for the past twenty-five years and my mother is 85. My SSD and her SSI is unsubstantial for survival. Our economic challenges, rise in the cost of living, gas and utilities are shutting us out, dividing us from those who get through the doors of new opportunities.

Will our government’s $100 million investment in new research of the brain unlock the area that will lead us to answers for our survival? Will we be more intelligent and wiser? Are there any programs forthcoming to help Americans like my mother and I bounce back or recoup what we have lost? We are among the countless American citizens who do not want to leach off of the government. We don’t need a hand-out, just a leg up and who will keep us from being written off? Will studies of the brain produce new solutions for people like us?

Hoping for your personal attention and reply.

Sincerely,
American from Ohio