Dear World

Dear World,
Meet my niece, Katherine.

She is two months away from her third birthday.  She likes the colors purple, green, and yellow.  She likes to sort things in size from smallest to largest.  She likes to tattle on her twin brother, but she also orders him around and gives him hugs when he helps her. She likes to read the same books over and over and over again, much to this aunt's delight. She knows her letters, again, much to this aunt's delight.

When some extended family members came over to visit this weekend, she stood at the door as a welcoming committee of one. Hi, Aunt Mary. Hi, Uncle George. Hi, Matt!!  This last was said with such enthusiasm that her second cousin started a bit before bending down to give her a kiss.  She knows everyone.  Even second cousins she sees twice a year.

She could care less about her own two dogs (what are your puppies' names, Katherine? is met with a blank stare), but grabs my phone to see pictures of Zeldakitty.  She likes to read stories about baby animals, but only if they get to go back to their mommy and daddy at the end. She watches the birds outside windows and screams in excitement whenever one lands within fifty feet of her.  She likes to crumple leaves in her hand and to blow bubbles/spill the bubble liquid all over the sidewalk. She likes to color with crayons and sidewalk chalk. She likes to collect stickers and have more than her brother. Competitive to her very soul.

When she hit her mom in church on Easter Sunday and got a timeout, she was screaming as her mom left the sanctuary with her, "don't tell Grandma and Grandpa!" She loves her Grandma with a passion reserved only for the under five set and she freaks out when they leave a room without her.  Easter Sunday was rough for her and we kept hearing the wailing as she was carted out of rooms for timeouts for hitting.

Katherine also has cerebral palsy - a mild case that was caught early when her twin brother could walk and she still couldn't sit up on her own.  Her CP is pretty well limited to her legs, so she uses a walker and attends occupational and physical therapy regularly.  She also goes to daycare twice a week and playgroup at church regularly.  The other little girls are jealous of her walker, tricked out with pink duct tape to make it pretty and the boys frequently take her walker for a spin when she's not using it because they can make it go so fast.  She's made such tremendous progress that this weekend, she walked, on her own, for ten steps.  Sure, we bribed her with GRANDMA! and CHOCOLATE! but she walked on her own.

But, at not quite three years old, the insurance company has said that she has reached her lifetime limit on the number of physical therapy sessions she can have.

She has been turned down for life insurance and other health insurance options.  In sarcasm, my husband said, "if only there were an option for Katherine to buy into a group policy where she couldn't be turned down."  If only.

The Obama administration has done a horrible job of putting faces to those who would benefit from health care reform.  Let me do it for you. This little girl is not going to get treatment if something isn't done. She can walk now, but what happens when she has a growth spurt? What happens when the doctors recommend botox or surgery?  What happens when she's a teenager who can't go to her room and slam the door when she's mad at her mom and dad? 

She has a lot to offer this world. She's sweet, sassy, and smart.  If we don't give her the treatment she NEEDS, we're going to do her a tremendous disservice.  Don't tell me about personal responsibility and bitch about entitlement programs. If the rest of the industrialized world can provide their citizens with appropriate medical care, so can we. Let's help her be the best she can be.

Thanks,