To My Local Representative

My son was born with a pre-existing condition.

Ryan was born with Esophageal Atresia, a rare congenital defect where his mouth did not connect to his stomach, preventing him from eating. Without surgical intervention and extensive nursing and care, Ryan would have died within weeks of being born from starvation and pneumonia.

Ryan was lucky though. He was born in 2014 to successful parents with good employer-provided insurance; there were no coverage gaps, no denials of coverage, and no limits on how much insurance would pay. Now, thanks to the tireless effort of the greatest doctors and nurses in the world, no one has to tell him why he can’t eat like the other children. Not every child born with EA is so lucky.

If you vote to repeal the ACA, you will allow insurance companies to deny him coverage for the rest of his life.

Ryan is my son, and the most important thing in the world to me; I will do anything to protect him and his future, so that he can have children of his own to worry about. I’m sure you understand that feeling.

So I’m begging you: please do not steal my son’s health from him. Please do not make his future impossible before he even has a chance to live it. Please do not repeal the Affordable Care Act.

I will do anything: I will pay higher taxes, do community service; I will fly to your office or home or wherever you are, and beg on my knees if that will help you to make that decision.

The average person in this world has very little importance, and even less say in the world. We rely on our representatives to protect us from forces which are beyond our control. I cannot stop a gigantic national corporation from preventing my son from getting life-saving treatments, but you can. I cannot stop a hospital from denying him care because he can’t afford it, but you can.

I cannot protect my son’s health, but you can.

I’m begging you: Do not repeal the Affordable Care Act.