I feel strongly that this nation’s medical insurers are not adequately addressing an important medical issue. Lymphedema is a very serious disease and there is no cure, but it is manageable if afforded the appropriate treatment. Unfortunately, many insurance companies do not provide for the simple preventative treatment that allows an individual with the disease to have a good quality of life and to remain a productive member of society. As one of your constituents, I am asking you to please support legislation that will provide treatment for those affected by this disease.
Sadly, insurance companies often will not pay for the expense of this therapy and treatment. If untreated, the patient may experience decreased mobility due to the swollen limb as well as embarrassment and discomfort. Left untreated, this disease greatly reduces the chances for a person to live a productive and happy life, and as with my husband, even death.
Three years ago, I lost my husband due to complications of Lymphedema. We had never heard of the disease and knew nothing about it and apparently most of our physicians know very little about it because if Thomas had been diagnosed earlier and received treatment, he could be here with me today.
I used to ask – why was I born, what is my purpose in life? Do I get up everyday and go to work, eat dinner, then go to bed?
I feel that certain events that happen in my life cause the “effect of my responsibility of who I am, and what I will become and achieve.” Certain decisions that I make cause a domino effect not only in my life but also in the lives of others.
I believe in destiny and what it says about my future. Destiny put my husband and I together ten years ago. I used to pray for a man with a beard – and one day there he was knocking on my door. It was love at first sight for both of us. We got married, purchased our home and had plans for a family. What we didn’t know was that seven years after our wedding, complications from lymphedema would take my husband’s life and change my life forever. Thomas was my husband, my security, my best friend and the sole mate that I had planned on growing old with.
Do I have a book out there about my life? I hope that it reads, “Jennifer Hovatter finds a cure for lymphedema.” Does Congress have a book out there? I hope it reads “Congress successful in getting lymphedema treatments covered by insurance and Medicare.”
I believe that my husband and I were put together for a reason and that reason is he was taken early at age 43, so that I would carry on the advocacy of lymphedema and finding a cure for it in his memory. It took his passing away for me to know my life’s plan and to carry it out. I will never get over the loss, but it has helped me know who I am and what I am capable of. It has made me look inside and decide to change the direction of my life. I see the future with new eyes and realize that I can build a new life that will maintain the memories of the past and build on new experiences.
I am attending ETSU to become a physical therapist so I can go on to get certified in the massage therapy used to treat lymphedema patients. I could make the decision to be in bed every day and cry over my husband’s death, but I don’t think that my destiny would let me. I would be missing out on a possible link to a cure. My decision to carry out my destiny will help those maybe not in my lifetime, but in someone else’s’ lifetime, in the future. I think about how responsible I am for who I am and what I will become and what I will achieve. My purpose in life is to carry on in my husband’s memory by treating those who have lymphedema. It is so strong in my heart. Yes, I do cry over my husband, but something stirs up in my heart that pushes me more and more. I have never loved something so much as the determination to achieve my goal. I know it was God’s purpose and my destiny in life that my husband and I met and were given seven years together, so that I could know the plan for my life to carry on the advocacy of lymphedema in his memory.
Last year, Representatives Dale Ford and Rusty Crowe were successful in getting June 18th, the day on which Thomas passed away, designated as the State of Tennessee Lymphedema Awareness Day.
I believe when God closes one door – he opens another – and I pray that the door he opens will be the door to The Thomas Hovatter Lymphedema Clinic.
One person can have a dream, when joined by others, it becomes a vision.
When put into action it becomes a movement. Movements change History.
In this time of renewed focus on healthcare issues, I ask that you think about the needs of these patients and support legislation that requires insurance and Medicare to pay for the treatment of this disease. Children are born with the disease.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Thank you and God Bless!
