ACA Success Stories: Melanie from Houston, TX

Five years ago, an aneurysm exploded in the back of my brain. I was airlifted to the hospital for emergency brain surgery. Neurosurgeons repaired the aneurysm, and found two others, both waiting to rupture.

After surgery, complications ensued. My lungs shut down from life-threatening pneumonia, a hospital-acquired infection caused by “superbug” contamination from either the breathing tube in my throat or the drain in my brain. The right side of my body was paralyzed. Doctors sedated me into a coma then dripped high doses of powerful antibiotics into my veins.

A nightmarish recovery followed. Yet five weeks later, I began rehab and re-learned how to walk, talk, feed, bathe, and dress myself. I returned to work three months later, after additional brain surgery to seal off the unruptured aneurysm.

In four years, I’ve had four more brain surgeries and nine brain scans. I’ve been hospitalized 14 times, including once for near-fatal anemia caused by blood thinners too potent for my weakened body.

I’m alive today because of an amazing medical team. And also because of the ACA.

Thanks to the ten Essential Benefits mandated by the Affordable Care Act, my insurance covered the lifesaving brain surgeries I needed, along with annual brain scans. Those scans turned out to be exceedingly important because three times in the past three years, they showed that my aneurysms were refilling, threatening to explode again.

My next brain scan is scheduled for May 26th, and I thank the Affordable Care Act that I’m alive and healthy today.

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The Cover Texas Now Coalition is looking for stories like Melanie’s. We’d like to know how the Affordable Care Act or Medicaid have helped you and your family. Are you willing to share your story with us? If so, please visit this page and tell us how these programs have affected you.