Richard Rolando

I have been struggling to support my wife and son since my 3% annual COLA was taken away from me and my family. My wife has been battling severe arthritis in her feet, knees, hips, back, and hands since 2011 and has been wheel chair dependent since 2012. In the winter we have had to keep the heat at 64 degrees to save on heat. On her sixth birthday 2015 she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and had to under go radical chemotherapy and radiation. She had to stay on chemo maintenance treatments every week. This cost a lot of pain and suffering for her and financial strain as she had to be transported to the treatment hospital 52 miles from our home. Of course all the horrible side effects from her treatments caused her to be on so many medications which we had co payments to deal with. We had to apply for assistance to help pay for gas to get her to her treatment and to help pay for groceries. We also had to apply through the cancer treatment hospital to get dental treatment as chemo treatment was starting to destroy her teeth causing them to break off and fall out and her gums would bleed badly. In 2017 my wife was told she had Lymphoma and had to start treatment for that cancer as well. The treatment was very expensive and we were thankfully able to get a grant from the lymphoma society to pay for treatment as the health insurgence did not cover most of the cost. After a year of treatment the lymphoma was in remission. 2019 the lymphoma started to come back causing her to be severely anemic requiring weekly blood transfusions. They had to start chemo again for the lymphoma again. After two months of treatment it was under control again. 2021 the lymphoma was back but then in December 2021 she started coughing profusely and having trouble breathing she landed in the hospital again and after three days had contracted COVID and was put on meds for covid but got worse and was put in ICU. She continued to worsen and had to be put in an induced coma. Before she was put into the coma I saw her through the glass window because they would not allow me into to ICU room and she looked and wave at me for the last time, She was put on a respirator to help her breath. After 15 days on treatment her major organs began to shut down and I with our four children had to make the most heart braking decision to remove her from the respirator. With our children and I at her side they removed all the tubes and respirator from my beloved wife Theresa, she lasted only five minutes and then she was gone. Needless to say our hearts were shattered. I can't help thinking that if the COLA was not terminated my wife and I could have enjoyed life a little better, at least till she was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and her seven year battle with cancer began. My life will never be the same with out her.

 

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