Support for the Amazing Maxica!
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I met Maxica this weekend at a convening for organizers and community leaders, and I immediately felt a connection. We both are cancer survivors, suffering from lymphedema and neuropathy as a result of intense chemo and radiation and surgery. But a huge difference: I have health insurance, and Maxica is on Medicaid. The US healthcare system is horribly oppressive. Help me help Maxica - read her story below, and please support in anyway that you can.
Maxica's story: I am a single mother of four wonderful kids, ages 18, 11, 9, and 8. They are the positive motivating force in my life. They played the most influential role in my surviving stage 3 cancer in 2016. I was able to get back to me because of their love.
We went through a period of homelessness because of my medical costs due to cancer. I was about to buy a house, but I needed to use my savings to by medication that Medicaid would not cover - it was $5000 per shot. They went through a lot of feeling down and bad to not having their own home - they thought it would never end. It made me feel so bad that I couldn't take care of my kids - I was at my all time low. But with the strength of uniting with Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, and finding others who triumphed over homelessness by tapping into their power, I learned my rights and how to fight for them. I gained a voice that I never knew I had to step up and defend for what I knew was right.
Because the treatment was so high level, it left me with severe neuropathy in my legs and hands, and lymphedema in my left arm. I had to have a double mastectomy. Its hard to walk far distances - I need assistance to even button my clothes each morning. I have PT 3 times a week to deal with these side effects.
There is support for my side effects, but Medicaid doesn't cover the costs, which is $2600. If I had a circulator pump, I would have huge relief in the swelling of my arm, I could reduce seeing my physical therapist to once a month, which would mean more time healing and more time with my kids. But I can't afford this.
I'm no longer homeless, due to being placed in a permanent housing program, but I need to move due to poor housing conditions. Moving costs will probably be $1200 - because I'm not physically able to back and move myself.
Any support to help me in this period would change my life - it would mean I could take of my own health, and the health of my family.
Maxica's story: I am a single mother of four wonderful kids, ages 18, 11, 9, and 8. They are the positive motivating force in my life. They played the most influential role in my surviving stage 3 cancer in 2016. I was able to get back to me because of their love.
We went through a period of homelessness because of my medical costs due to cancer. I was about to buy a house, but I needed to use my savings to by medication that Medicaid would not cover - it was $5000 per shot. They went through a lot of feeling down and bad to not having their own home - they thought it would never end. It made me feel so bad that I couldn't take care of my kids - I was at my all time low. But with the strength of uniting with Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, and finding others who triumphed over homelessness by tapping into their power, I learned my rights and how to fight for them. I gained a voice that I never knew I had to step up and defend for what I knew was right.
Because the treatment was so high level, it left me with severe neuropathy in my legs and hands, and lymphedema in my left arm. I had to have a double mastectomy. Its hard to walk far distances - I need assistance to even button my clothes each morning. I have PT 3 times a week to deal with these side effects.
There is support for my side effects, but Medicaid doesn't cover the costs, which is $2600. If I had a circulator pump, I would have huge relief in the swelling of my arm, I could reduce seeing my physical therapist to once a month, which would mean more time healing and more time with my kids. But I can't afford this.
I'm no longer homeless, due to being placed in a permanent housing program, but I need to move due to poor housing conditions. Moving costs will probably be $1200 - because I'm not physically able to back and move myself.
Any support to help me in this period would change my life - it would mean I could take of my own health, and the health of my family.
Organizer and beneficiary
Amisha Patel
Organizer
Oak Park, IL
Maxica Williams
Beneficiary