News & Events
A Personal Push for a Public Option: Harriet Fulbright Gives a Deeply Personal Speech to a Congressional Health Panel
Washington, D.C., October 28, 2009 – Mrs. Harriet Mayor Fulbright, widow of late Senator William Fulbright and President and CEO of the J. William & Harriet Fulbright Center, gave an emotional address to the House Judiciary committee during its Health Care and Public Option Hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday October 27th. The informal hearing was held to provide a platform for patients, physicians, and advocates supporting health care reform with a public option.
Harriet Fulbright’s powerful story of her personal struggle with a rare and incurable blood cancer set the tone for the meeting and drew applause on several occasions from the typically stoic Congressional panel. Initially diagnosed with anemia, Mrs. Fulbright was unresponsive to treatment and further tests revealed Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia, a very rare and deadly blood cancer. The world renowned doctors at the Johns Hopkins University and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute put Mrs. Fulbright on a routine of blood transfusions and chemotherapy that left her exhausted. “I felt as if I were living on transfusions, which were necessary every two to three weeks. The subsequent sessions with a chemotherapy agent slowly dripping into my arm were more uncomfortable because of the extreme fatigue that followed,” Mrs. Fulbright testified.
Thanks to the work of some of the best oncologists in the world and after countless sessions, Mrs. Fulbright pulled through and is now in complete remission. Mrs. Fulbright acknowledged how vital access to top quality health care was in her recovery and tied her story to the purpose of the hearing, the need for health care reform with a robust public option.
“I also want to emphasize that I was able to take advantage of all this medical expertise because my health insurance, which came from my Senator husband, is the best this country has to offer and should be available to all US citizens. Without it I would now be deeply in debt or dead, unable to afford the extremely expensive and prolonged treatments.”
A story of personal struggle in the hands of the right person can lead to significant public reform. Mrs. Fulbright’s battle with cancer and her uncanny way to touch people with her message should provide a great push in the fight to provide quality healthcare to all US citizens.
