Mothers - Still undecided about your vote?

I am directing this message to women everywhere, especially mothers. As you prepare to vote, I need to share two important stories about the two men who would be president for the next four years.

Thirty years ago, my friend Mary, a Wilmington resident, learned that her 22-year old daughter was diagnosed with brain cancer, with a 3-5-year life expectancy. Worse, her employer’s insurance company denied coverage for treatment. Mary tried every avenue to secure help, but her best decision was to contact her Senator Joe Biden. The senator notified the insurance company that their decision was illegal, got coverage replaced, and sent Mary a letter referencing the exact section of the law. Care was restarted and continued for the next 22 years. When she passed, Mary’s daughter was surrounded by friends and loved ones, in hospice care in a skilled nursing home.

Fast forward to 2020.

In tweets, Fox News interviews and campaign rally statements, Trump said everyone who needed a ventilator or a test would be able to get one. He called the virus a hoax, and the news media fake. He said the virus was under control; it would be over by April as the weather warmed; we should all stay calm; the “virus is very contagious but we have tremendous control over it.” He belittled the hospitals that requested/required over 30,000 ventilators.

However, in recorded conversations with Bob Woodward, we learn he was told the virus would be the “largest national security threat of his presidency.” He knew that the virus was passed through the air, not just by touching surfaces. He learned that it would affect both old and young people. In early February he said he always wanted to play it down because he didn’t want to create a panic.

To summarize: in public, he downplayed the dangerous virus; while being interviewed for a book he assumed would paint him as a hero, he acknowledged the truth.

I tell you all of this because on March 15 my daughter was exposed to the coronavirus. When she became sick, her physician said tests would not be available until she spiked a temperature. No mention of other signs: shortness of breath, loss of taste and smell, and overall body pain.

We talked daily, but by March 27 either she was too ill to respond to phone calls, texts and emails, or everything had powered down. I spent the next 24 hours calling everyone I thought could gain access to her apartment, even the Brooklyn police. They couldn’t, as 24 hours of non-contact had not yet passed.

Finally, a key was located, and two friends found her “delirious with fever, deeply dehydrated and gravely ill.” Her last contact with loved ones ended when the ambulance doors slammed shut. There were no ICU beds or ventilators available at the hospital; 24 hours later, I got the call that she had died, alone, in the ER, surrounded by medical staff and machines. The sound of my anguished scream still rings in my ears.

Compare the actions of these two men who would be president: Joe Biden, a compassionate public servant who helped Mary have her daughter for many years. Donald Trump, a man whose inactions led to not only my daughter’s death, but to those of over 220,000 Americans. Our lives are forever changed.

Take my experience to your hearts; imagine yourself, your child, your parents, succumbing to the disease that could have been contained had we known the truth. He knew, he lied, and people have died. The survivors’ lives are changed forever. There should be no indecision as to which man you want to lead us for the next four years.