I Was Illegally Fired For Accessing Healthcare AMA

I saw this screenshot while scrolling on social media. Today is a bed day, as I tend to alternate between being able to leave the house and having to recover from leaving the house. This post reminded me that my experiences are not unique, which inspired me to share this post as part of my 31 Day Writing Challenge.

I worked very hard to get my previous job at a very well known software company. My journey started when I fled my hometown as a survivor of domestic abuse with $45. I moved to Atlanta looking for a fresh start and connected with family here who were also financially struggling. A friend suggested I join an education program where I would get IT training, intern at a fortune 500 company, and then get job placement making more than minimum wage. As a college dropout who was initially studying to be an engineer, I lept at the opportunity to position myself for a healthy future. Every day I left my house at 4 am and traveled at least 8 hours on public transit for each 8 hour school day. Eventually I was placed at my internship, where I had to compete for the one available job opportunity at that company. As unfair as it was, I stayed focused. My commute was still 8 hours roundtrip, but when I was at work I made sure I was the best employee. My metrics consistently led the pack, beating out even the full time employees on my team. I refused to be broke and wanted to ensure that there would be nothing stopping me from getting that job. Unfortunately for me I got the job, first as a contractor then as a full time employee.

The stress I was under and the constant fear I lived with, as a survivor and as someone who was really poor, eventually caught up with me. One of my Grandmothers was a Vietnam era vet and had been affected by agent orange exposure. It is my belief that her affected genes predisposed me to the symptoms I have now, and the immense stress I and my body were under triggered those genes to express. I developed symptoms that match Cushing’s Disease, with everything that entails. Not only did I gain 100 pounds in 8 months, but I developed high blood pressure, high cholesterol, melasma and extreme hyperpigmentation due to increased and persistent insulin resistance, muscle loss and decreased mental clarity among other things. At the time I didn’t know what was wrong, but in spite of this I persisted and maintained my high quality of work, with the highest or second highest metrics always.

I eventually also developed osteoporosis, which took two of my teeth. Thankfully it’s not visible, and once I'm healed I'm saving up to get my teeth done so it's not as traumatizing as it could be. At the time though I was terrified as my symptoms and need for oral surgery expressed within two weeks. The first time I got surgery and went back to work the same day, but the second time it was way, way more painful and I couldn't even speak. I also experienced complications so I had to go several days without talking in extreme pain before I could get surgery, and then recovered over the weekend after surgery still in extreme pain. The worst part was that I had to go back for a third surgery right after, but since I was in less pain and could talk I decided to go back into work before my third surgery. As I always did, I made sure I was communicating consistently with my employer and manager, and was under the impression that everything was fine. Shockingly, within 15 minutes of coming into work I was fired, the day before my last surgery. Not only did I lose my insurance, I lost my ability to get the last surgery I needed, I had to ration my pain killers, and I had to DIY my healthcare until I could start seeing doctors consistently again.

For 6 months I fought hard and eventually received unemployment in addition to settling out of court for my illegal firing. For the first time in my adult life I wasn’t working, and the fear made my symptoms express more strongly again. I spent the first week in bed in immense pain, not only because of my cancelled surgery but also because of my muscle loss and painful spasms. I am blessed that I had a partner who I could rely on, and who convinced me to use this time to focus on my healing instead of work, as even now aside from freelancing occasionally, I still can’t work.

I am not an irresponsible person. I believe in persistence and budgeting and having a strong work ethic. When I first noticed that my health was deteriorating I applied for medical leave and was denied. All my hard work meant nothing. All of my high metrics and awards for my work meant nothing. I was screwed.

I was at the height of my Cushing's symptoms at the time and missed the opportunity to easily get the help I needed. Instead of going to the doctor, getting the appropriate testing, finding the adrenal tumor and getting it removed (which would have cured me), I had to DIY my healthcare. I had to research ways to manage my symptoms on my own. Thankfully it worked and I was able to find ways to minimize my daily pain and lower my cortisol levels enough to lower some of my other symptoms. Reprieve from my extreme symptoms have made my quality of life so much better even though i’m still partially housebound. Sadly they have also impacted my ability to get diagnosed now. My former employers decision to fire me has deeply impacted my ability to get diagnosed in a way that I believe should frankly be illegal. I am blessed to have a black woman doctor who respects my research and supports a tentative diagnosis of Cushing’s Disease. I am incredibly lucky, as most people I’ve interacted with who have rare diseases spend the rest of their lives in pain, as their doctors don’t trust them enough to believe that the things they experienced when they did not have insurance were true.

My good luck, meticulous note keeping and research may have saved my life now, but I will never forgive my former employer for firing me for accessing my healthcare, as things could have easily gone a completely different way. My former company was valued at $500 million dollars, and chose not to allow me to get the healthcare I needed even though I had consistently worked my ass off for years. Since then I’ve learned about other people with similar experiences. Recently a friend told me about a coworker at a healthcare company who worked faithfully for over 20 years. Now that they are needing end of life care the company is kicking the employee off of their insurance, and asking my friend and their coworkers to give them their PTO and to donate to their $5000 gofundme. It makes me sick.

We must take seriously the call to end capitalism. At the very minimum we need to have free universal healthcare. There is never a reason for money to matter more than the lives of people, or the environment, or animals. It makes me sick to think of all the other people who died or had their quality of life seriously impacted by the decisions of some multi millionaire who could easily cover their expenses and get a tax write off while doing it. I genuinely hope that the call for communism or socialism moves from a cool meme to a genuine call to action. So many lives depend on it.