Health Care Story of the Week - 10/14/09

Shana Atchley, a beautiful young woman from Lebanon, Tennessee, represents the sort of medical miracles that America’s dedicated doctors and nurses perform every day. But now her life is in danger, and she embodies the tragic failures of a health insurance system that so often defeats the best efforts of our medical professionals.

When Shana was born with half of her heart missing, doctors did not think she would make it through the night. Thanks to extraordinary care, she survived. But then, at age five, her immune system shut down and she became very sick. “She was placed on the Heart Transplant list but we were informed that she would probably die waiting,” said Penny Shoemake, Shana’s mom. “Well lo and behold, our prayers had been answered, and two days after getting placed on the transplant list, a heart was available,” she said.

Since age 8, Shana has undergone four bouts of cancer and chemotherapy. The last bout of cancer, during her senior year of high school, was the worst. “She was deathly sick and in and out of the emergency room many times over the course of her treatment,” said Ms. Shoemake. But Shana never stopped fighting, and the treatment worked. Last April, Shana attended her senior prom. A few months later, she graduated from high school with a straight-A report card.

The cancers are caused by the anti-rejection medicine that Shana needs to take to live. Without the medicine, her body would attack the transplanted heart. Shana’s doctors say the anti-rejection medicine will continue to cause her to get cancer.

Shana started college this fall, and works part-time at a restaurant. Until recently, she was insured by TennCare. On September 17, 2009, Shana was cut from TennCare due to the lifting of the Daniels injunction. Now, she is totally uninsured.

“I don’t understand how TennCare can take away coverage on someone that needs it,” said Ms. Shoemake. “Our family does not make enough to pay for her $500 per month medication or her specialists and all the tests that are involved to keep a person alive who has had a transplant of any kind.”

“Considering all that this child has been through, she is an inspiration to me because she never gives up no matter how hard it gets,” said Ms. Shoemake. “I am asking that they let my daughter have health coverage in order to live a more healthy and abundant life.”

The current health care system, with its gaps and barriers, threatens to undo all the good work of Shana’s caregivers, and to defeat her own courageous efforts, by denying the preventive care without which she faces certain death. For Shana, her mother, and her Lebanon community, an investment in her well-being would pay dividends for years to come. Without reform, the present insurance system will rob us all of everything that Shana – and many other inspiring young Americans like her – has to give.