This morning I received a campaign email from Rebecca Kleefisch entitled “My Story” (Below): Ms. Kleefisch revealed today that she recently was treated for colon cancer. As a fellow cancer survivor I sympathize with her, you do not have cancer ‘scares” you have “holy shit I have cancer” attacks. So I know that what she dealt with was very serious. How she chose to deal with it is a different story. Let’s let her tell explain:
I researched my disease and the treatments available. I found the best colorectal cancer surgeon around: Dr. Kirk Ludwig. He was internationally renowned and taught others how to remove colon cancer laparoscopically. He was at Froedert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin…amazingly, just 30 minutes away.
I saw him Monday morning. My tumor was the size of a grapefruit, he said. When I asked whether he would still be able to take it out laparoscopically, he said it wouldn’t be a problem.
Thank God for Rebecca that her husband is State Rep. Joel Kleefisch, which means that she has a 100% covered by the taxpayer cadillac health care plan. That allowed her to get treated successfully by the best doctor in the state at our expense. Having caught her cancer early and getting it treated surely has led her humble and thankful. But wait! She is using her cancer story, to make sure others who have cancer are unable to get treated:
My story also illustrates how dire my future might have been if we had socialized medicine. What if the government had told me I had to wait in a 6 month line to get a CT scan? Or that I couldn’t have Dr. Ludwig perform the surgery? That’s unacceptable to me and my family.
veronica Spiers would disagree. How many people in Wisconsin have the plan she has that allows her to get all tests paid for and how many allow the patient to pick their own doctor? What if he was “out-of-network”? what if her insurance company had dropped her because of her family history(they cant now thanks to President Obama)? What if there was a cap on what her insurance company would pay(there is not anymore)? What if she were Devin Pate?
I wish Ms. Kleefisch a quick and full recovery. I hope she takes the time during her recover to actually study the issue that she is speaking out on. Maybe she can meet with some of those whose insurance companies have denied coverage to and explain that its ok they cant get treated because its the “free market” and we need government out of our daily lives. Maybe those people can just take one for the team, while their tax dollars go to making sure the Kleefisch family stays healthy!
Press release in full:
Dear Friends,
About two and a half weeks before I became Scott Walker’s running mate, my life changed. No doubt my life changed the night of the primary, too, but what happened before is something I want to share with you.
Statewide campaigns are a rigorous business. I had traveled Wisconsin time and time again getting to know you. I was eating on the run, drinking a lot of coffee, and keeping a demanding schedule. My excuse for exercise was 8 consecutive Independence Day parades!
That’s why, when I started having stomach cramps and feeling tired, I blamed it on my schedule. I went to my doctor a couple of times and he agreed that I probably needed a lifestyle adjustment after the election.
A few weeks before the primary, I told my doctor that I was sick. Not just campaign-sick. Really sick. He ordered some blood tests and called me with the results. He wanted to know how I was feeling.
“Fine,” I told him.
The test results were not as fine. He said that I was bleeding somewhere, that I might have an ulcer and that I needed an endoscopy right away, and probably a blood transfusion. I hung up the phone and got back behind the camera to shoot my “Mom with a Minivan” ad.
I didn’t want a blood transfusion.
The next day, I had an endoscopy that revealed no ulcer, but instead of being excited, my doctor told me I needed a colonoscopy the next morning.
It was August 26th. Two and a half weeks before the primary I woke up from my colonoscopy to my doctor telling me, “Becky… you have colon cancer, but, 9 years ago I was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer, and I’m here to tell you about it.”
He was like an angel, giving me the bad along with hope. He refused to guess what stage the cancer was.
Eight years earlier, my dad died of pancreatic cancer, and I was so thankful the doctor hadn’t said “pancreatic cancer.” Regardless of the stage, I knew I could beat colon cancer. I went straight to get a CT scan and transfusion.
That weekend I researched my disease and the treatments available. I found the best colorectal cancer surgeon around: Dr. Kirk Ludwig. He was internationally renowned and taught others how to remove colon cancer laparoscopically. He was at Froedert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin…amazingly, just 30 minutes away.
I saw him Monday morning. My tumor was the size of a grapefruit, he said. When I asked whether he would still be able to take it out laparoscopically, he said it wouldn’t be a problem.
“And in ten years…?” I said.
“In ten years, you’ll look back on this and say, ‘Oh, that wasn’t so fun.’ And that’s it.”
The next day when I went for genetic testing I started bleeding and was admitted Wednesday. Thursday morning, around the same time I got my diagnosis the previous week, the cancer was gone.
Dr. Ludwig sent my tumor to pathologists to determine the stage of the disease. After I had been home for a day, he called with the results: despite the fact that the tumor had broken through my colon wall and was creeping up my side, despite the fact that it looked like it had compromised lymph nodes, all the nodes tested negative. I had survived Stage 2 cancer. It was like a miracle.
Last week, the genetic test results finally came. “No mutation detected” they said. I will not pass this on to my daughters. Another miracle.
I’m telling you because perhaps you’ve been touched by cancer. If you have, you know that the stories of hope, of beating it, are the ones you hold on to. Just like my doctor awakened me with a story of hope, I hope you will share my story with someone who needs it.
My story also illustrates how dire my future might have been if we had socialized medicine. What if the government had told me I had to wait in a 6 month line to get a CT scan? Or that I couldn’t have Dr. Ludwig perform the surgery? That’s unacceptable to me and my family.
So please hug your family tonight and be thankful for your blessings. I have a renewed gratefulness for each day. And please join me in fighting for healthcare reform that keeps us in charge of our choices. After a hard-fought primary and cancer, Tom Barrett doesn’t seem very scary.
Forward,
Rebecca Kleefisch
P.S. – Last night, my husband Joel and I shared our story on WISN12 News in Milwaukee (the news station we both used to work for). You can watch the video HERE.
Paid for by Friends of Scott Walker, John Hiller, Treasurer
The woman is strong on rhetoric and short on reason.
Why the doctor passed on doing a lobotomy while she was under anesthesia is beyond me.
Her comments are right on the mark. With government takeover of health care they are going to decide who gets treatment, when they get it from where and how much. It is great she is making that a campaign issue Obama Care is wrong and is going to destroy the best system in the world. My wife had breast cancer last year and I had a mild heart attack this year, would we have gotten the same quality care we needed if Obama care was around doubtful, do I now have some large medical bills to pay yes, we did not get everything paid for not by a long shot why do libs think they should.
And how is a a third party insurance company who is the health insurance business to make money less insidious than a government plan? I don’t think most people on Medicare would be happy to lose the coverage they currently have.
As for Obamacare as you call it, under the current health insurance plan that was passed you would have received exactly the same care and consideration that you received. And please note that both you and your wife now have pre-existing conditions and thanks to the recent bill you can’t be dropped by your insurer nor turned down by another one in the future.
And where oh where did you see that any of the health care options discussed over the past two years paid for everything? They all included premiums and co-pays.
And if you had no insurance where would you be? what if your insurance company decided to drop you? The Government should pay because it falls under the general welfare, its the most cost effective and its the moral thing to do. Rebecca is very happy the government is paying 100% of her health care
Government should pay? Government should pay?
Is this you? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19v5Kjmc8FI
Sigh.
This press release is incredible. She’s using her illness to advance her political agenda. Absolutely incredible.
Incidentally…my daughter and I were talking about healthcare (etc) the other day…and she told me after facing a serious illness that could have taken her life a few years back she believes everyone has a right to healthcare…and having gone through that traumatic time with her…I certainly agree. I don’t even want to think about where we’d be right now if we didn’t have healthcare during her illness. I feel for those who are suffering with illnesses and are unable to afford medical treatment. It’s heartbreaking and wrong.
I find it interesting Kleefisch’s first move after going through such an ordeal was to advocate to keep good healthcare from those who need it but can’t afford it. Shameful…really. I feel sorry for her.
I agree that in this country everyone should have access but then fix that problem do not go after everyones insurance. I work for a company that has over 23,000 employees we had a meeting a month ago and one of the points they made is that while right now there are no plans in the works to drop our insurance coverage one of the items they are looking at is the penalties they would get for having a so called Cadillac plan vs the fines they would have to pay if they did not have coverage for all of its employees. Do you know they said that they will end up paying more in fines and additional taxes for carrying insurance. Thats heartbreaking and wrong
I agree nota, and it is going to be a mess as long as we have “for-profit” health insurance. As long as there are executives who make millions by not covering people we will not be able to solve our problem. Unfortunately, they make so much money it will take serious political will to change the system and I am not sure its possible.
We should get rid of all those evil “for-profit” doctors as well. Of course nurses, technicians, etc all of them too.
Can I just add…the other day I watched Walker on the news making a comment about how Barrett (of all people) is using mentally ill people to score political points and that he (Walker) felt it was “sick”. I wonder if he’s going to say something to Kleefisch about using her illness to score political points?? AND…BTW…who actually used the mentally ill people to score political points?? Wasn’t it Walker who wanted to appear fiscally conservative and to do so he cut funding to the MHC?? He has some nerve calling Barrett “sick” after all the harm he has cause to the patients at the MHC.
Also…why didn’t Kleefisch disclose her condition before the primary?? Don’t the voters have a right to know if a candidate is sick before they cast their vote?? Just wondering…?
Anon:
You are an ass. Yes, throw up a bunch of crap about Kleefish and insinuate that it is all a big political play. She has the right to question how her coverage might have been different had Obama’s scheme had fully kicked in. IT’S HER LIFE SHE’S TALKING ABOUT PROTECTING, not some future job.
Funny, I didn’t see the same posts being distributed when Barrett made his beat-down an issue. So, I am ASSUMING that you are OUTRAGED that Barrett used the fact that he got the crap kicked out of him for a political ad?
And not disclose her medical condition? OK, I’ll play along. I want to see Tom Barrett’s full medical history to see if he had any brain injuries during said beat-down. Fair enough?
Face it Anon, you have nothing else to attack, so you resort to the xoff school of political garbage spewing.
“OK, I’ll play along.”…you’re playing solo…because you obviously did not understand the points I was making.
And what point were you making, ass..I mean Anon? “Just wondering” is not a point.
I agree, let’s have full medical disclosure, no privacy (as the left screams) and no personal time to deal with a potentially life-threatening issue. Just speculate “well, she should have told us EVERYTHING.”
Further, you wouldn’t have voted for her ANYWAY, so your red herring of “caring” for the voters rings hollow.
Again, if you think she is using this as a political stunt, then I am waiting for your condemnation of Tom Barrett for the TELEVISION AD that he used to portray sympathy for him because he got beat up. I don’t expect an answer on that one.
Had obamacare fully kicked in,it would not affect her whatsoever. She is already on fully funded and paid for government insurance. It takes a lot of guts to benefit from that program and practically from the hospital bed advocate to make sure others do NOT have the same benefit and access to life as she has had.
And why was that? Why pray tell did they hold off on implementing so much of it? The Democrats were in completely control – had all of the votes the needed to do whatever they wanted. Hmmm. Couldn’t have anything to do with no wanting to have to run for re-election once it kicked in, could it? Nah, couldn’t be.
it took a while to kick in, (although I think the provision that you cant be dropped because of pre-existing conditions kicked in recently), because the bill was not perfect. Itw as still presided over by Max Baucus hardly the person you want doing that.
If the democrats had felt they were in complete control you would have gotten a much more effective and all encompassing plan than the half posteriored thing that was passed. There are still going to be millions of uninsured Americans even when all of the provisions are fully in effect…there shouldn’t be one single American who doesn’t have health care in this country.
When I am sick, I want the doctors who make me better to make the money bot bill mcguire.
Locke you know as well as I do that the dems have never been in complete control.
Control of the House, of the Senate, and of the White House. But whatever.
Locke the House was fine and many bills got through the house on party line vote, the senate is different. As you know it takes 60 votes to even get it to the floor and that meant you needed the likes of joe lieberman, Ben Nelson and Blanche lIncoln to get things through whihc is next to impossible.
Thank God Rebecca’s cancer is under control. Also thank God that should she or her husband change jobs, with Obamacare in force she will not be denied care because of this pre-existing condition.
Though this release is way over the top in terms of its tastlessness, this may bring the debate to the state level. This is a debate she cannot win.
Don’t thank God – again, thank your Democractic lawmakers (or at least the select handful that read what they voted for) that this provision does not go into effect until 2014.
This was a provision that had wide support from both sides of the aisle – was tremendously popular with voters and could easily have been passed on it’s own and gone into effect immediately. Instead, because of everything else they threw into it (including billions in pork bribes to get it passed), the pre-existing condition protection, like most of the major components (both ban and the handful of good) don’t begin for 4 more years.
Your comment would not be bogus if not for
1) The pre-existing provision did go into effect September 23rd.
2) If the GOP was in favor of this provision, why didn’t they pass it when they had control of the Congress?
It is pathetic that Rebecca Unreal would deny the publicly financed health care that she not only enjoys but that saved her life, that she would deny that to others.
Sarah Palin lite. That stretches the imagination.
Oh one just one more reason why you are full of it Locke. For the past 20 months the FOXbots in Congress have opposed everything Obama has proposed. Everything, including measures the GOP supported originally. And these people think they deserve to take over Congress? Give me a break. But that thanks to the subservient out there it could happen.
You’re the one who is clearly wrong about facts of the law, so don’t tell me I’m full of it.
And I don’t believe the Republicans are any less to blame for the mess – they had their turn to enact logical, reasonable, productive changes to take a huge bite out of this problem and didn’t. I complained then when Bush & the Republican Congress did nothing. And I sure as hell will complain when the Democrats do worse than nothing.
Nope. Only for kids. Doesn’t go into effect for adults until 2014. There’s a hodge-podge transitional program that at some point will be implemented maybe by HHS maybe by your state, but the law banning discrimination for pre-existing conditions for adults is still a long ways off.
Because they’re greedy @ssholes & idiots too.
Great post, proud progressive, as I was thinking much the same thing. I just had a friend of mine (similar age to R. Kleefisch) get diagnosed with breast cancer that has spread to parts of her bones and liver. Her insurance company was trying to obtain more of her medical history to make up some kind of reason to possibly drop her from insurance. Thankfully, Obamacare and other provisions in this high-health care state will probably prevent that, but I want Mrs. Kleefisch to tell my friend that she has more freedom because her insurance company is able to be in control of her ability to afford treatment that could keep her alive for several more years.
God is sending you a message, Becky. This can happen to anyone regardless of background. Your luck in falling into the right job and right husband is a big reason why this evil disease was found early enough to have you continuie to live a productive life. Too bad you and your kind worship Mammon, and don’t get the message. Your narcissism is not the Christianity I know in any way, shape or form.
I think it’s interesting that Kleefisch uses her situation to make the case against health care reform, when the reality is that her health insurance coverage – which is provided by the State of Wisconsin – would not be one iota affected by health care reform.