Health Care Story
Saturday, November 07 2009 @ 11:50 AM EST
Views: 337
Story, Candice Walker Submitted to the AME Church Atlanta, GA 2009 On February 7, 2008 our family was shattered when we lost our one and only son Clinton Ron Walker at the age of 17. For over a year, Clinton had suffered strange seizures that would rack his body and cause him to run, jump and moan for over 2 or 3 minutes. He went to several doctors but no one could really tell us what was going on with him. He went to our pediatrician who wanted to send him to a special clinic at Emory but my insurance provider AETNA denied our request stating it was out of network and we would have to pay for it ourselves if we sent him there. After months of visiting several doctors and receiving misdiagnoses of panic attacks, our pediatrician found a new neurologist who was set to take on Clinton's case. We decided to pay for the test ourselves. The week that he was schedule to see the new doctor Clinton died in his sleep. We later learned he had a heart defect that caused his seizures. Had our insurance allowed us to take him to the special clinic where there was a cardiologist on staff, we believe he could have been saved and alive today. If you think that our current health care system allows you and your doctor to decide on your family's course of health care you are wrong. As we learned from Clinton's death, the insurance companies really are the final word on your health care. Health Insurance Reform isn't about the government getting in between people and their decisions. Right now insurance companies make decisions that are only for profit, sometimes their decisions are life and death and in the case of Clinton sometimes they may even cause death to a person you love. As people of faith we are taught to trust God in all that we do and so it is my faith that God can change things that I have decided to support President Barack Obama’s call to changing our health system.
People are dying, families and businesses are going bankrupt, the worth of the lives of our children is being decided by for-profit businesses. We cannot wait another minute, another second, to work for change! Our time is NOW. This is why I support President Obama's health care reform. Our system is broken and sadly Clinton's story is not the only one like it. Please help us to change our system. Let's work with President Obama to help him provide us with a variety of health care options for our children. Get involved with your local Organizing for America group and let these insurance companies know that we are not going to stand by and let them make decisions that take the lives of our children. Thank you, God bless you!
Bio, Candace Walker Submitted to the AME Church Atlanta, GA 2009 Candace Walker is the Editor at Bellaonline.com for their Gospel and Christian Music Websites. Her byline has been featured in several publications including; The Indianapolis Recorder, (where she was the first female Business and Education reporter), Gospel Today Magazine, Our Times Magazine, The Black Chronicle Newspaper, E-Music.com and Saved Magazine.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism, from Langston University and is the host and producer of a television show called Christian Conversations. The show is dedicated to showcasing the many blessings of Christian artists and leaders and airs locally in Atlanta, Georgia. "We are committed to providing our viewers with the knowledge that you can be blessed, profitable, and live an abundant life serving the Lord" says Walker.
She and her husband Rev. Clint Walker had two children Clinton Ron Walker, who died in 2008 and is now with the lord, and Diamond Walker who is a sophomore in high school. In 2008 after the death of her son from a congenital heart defect she and her mother founded The Clinton Ron Walker Scholarship Fund Inc and organized Youth 4 Healthy Hearts. The mission for the fund is to raise money for deserving Georgia students to attend college and to educate youth on how to check their hearts for any defects. She and her family currently reside in Atlanta, GA.
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