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http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/1/7/115041/2476/59/432176UPdate:Real People Closing for Edwards..."He speaks for us" by wade norris
Mon Jan 07, 2008 at 09:29:06 AM PST
UPdate:
With this fight being so crucial, and with survey USA showing Obama and Clinton losing to Huckabee in battleground states, we must rally behind the candidate that can win in battleground states.
John Edwards.
As we head into the New Hampshire Primary, the voters are getting to see the candidates up close and personal on the campaign trail, getting to hear them speak, see them interact with people, and see how their campaign operates. With the Clinton attacks on Obama and Edwards, it is refreshing to see one candidate not speaking about themselves or their campaign. John Edwards is letting the families hurt indirectly by the neglect of the middle class by our country's leaders and hurt directly by corporations who have put profit over lives. (thanks to this reporter in Concord, NH for ignoring the media blackout)
Edwards lets families speak
They share stories of health care pitfalls
By Chelsea Conaboy
http://www.concordmonitor.com/...
wade norris's diary :: ::
Sarkisyan's mother, Hilda, spoke in a hoarse voice about how her daughter, Nataline, was diagnosed with leukemia at age 14. After two years of chemotherapy, she went into remission.
"We had a sweet-16 party," Sarkisyan said before a standing-room-only crowd at Manchester's Franco American Center. "It was the best day. Everything she wanted in life we gave her."
Ten months later, Nataline's cancer was back. Her brother, Bedig, donated his bone marrow, but there were complications, and one day she was jaundiced. The insurance company, Cigna, refused to cover a liver transplant.
"They knew she was going to die," Sarkisyan said. "Why did they do that? This could happen to all of you guys."
Nataline's father, Grigor, protested outside Cigna headquarters the day his daughter died.
"Cigna, they killed my daughter," he said.
"Work for this man," he said, referring to Edwards. "He's fighting for America."
For all of us, the Sarkisyan's experience should be a real wake up call. These companies have put the profit ahead of our lives, and without a champion for us, they will continue to walk over all of us, the American people.
Next up James Lowe.
Lowe lived for 50 years with a cleft palate, unable to talk, because he had no insurance coverage to pay for the procedure. A doctor finally volunteered.
Lowe wiped away tears with the palm of his hand as he took the microphone from Edwards yesterday. He related to the Sarkisyans' story, he said, and pointed to Edwards.
"Here's the man who can do it," he said. "Nobody else but that man right there."
Now the Lakey family.
Valerie Lakey, a North Carolina girl, was severely injured by a faulty pool drain.
Her mother, Sandy Lakey, said when she met Edwards it was the first time after her daughter's accident that she felt hope.
"He is our champion," she said. "He is our hero, and he is the man who will change this country."
The crowd responded with a standing ovation.
These are real people like you and me. No focus groups. No Mark Penns. No polls. Real people who wanted to take the time to tell their story and support John Edwards because he fought for them, to be their voice.
John and Elizabeth have seen how an illness can place a family at the mercy of a faulty health insurance company.
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