How the ACA became a lifeline against colorectal cancer

PAUL WILLIAMS III | THE CHARLOTTE POST

A return to routine screening after the Affordable Care Act became law in 2010 allowed doctors to detect colorectal and breast cancer in DonnaMarie Woodson. "If it weren't for the Affordable Care Act, I would have likely just died," she said.

DonnaMarie Woodson’s life changed in 2015. 

In July 2015, Woodson was diagnosed with stage three colorectal cancer and stage one breast cancer. 

“I had been very healthy,” she said. “I was doing all my screenings and things like that. And, in 2008, my husband was laid off from 3M and with that lost insurance and all that. So, he wanted to start his own business. We ended up moving to North Carolina and I figured since I was pretty healthy, I’d put off my screenings until we got some insurance, so I missed a couple of years.”

When the Affordable Care Act became law in 2010, Woodson and her husband signed up. Her first screening revealed a shock she could have never been prepared for. 

“The first one I did was my colonoscopy,” she said. “Before I could even leave the building, my doctor said to stay because he needed to speak to us. He told me and my husband that he was 99.9% sure that I had colon cancer. … I didn’t have any symptoms. That was totally unexpected. Then, going through all of the MRIs and things like that, they discovered it was a stage three colon cancer as well. Also, during those screenings, they found out I had breast cancer.”

Woodson’s doctors said the cancers were not connected in any way. One didn’t cause the other. In just a handful of years, she had developed both cancers and Woodson said it goes to show the importance of screenings and keeping up with one’s health. 

After her diagnosis in 2015, Woodson practically lived in a hospital between colon surgery and chemotherapy.  

“I did chemo for about six months,” Woodson said. “I was able to do this new form of radiation that was not external, rather internal. They insert a balloon into the cavity where the tumor had been. The balloon is attached to something like a little R2-D2 robot-type thing. It was the radiation machine. I went for two weeks. And, it was only a few minutes each time because it was directly into the cavity. … The technology had changed so much and had become so advanced that I really benefited from that.”

The experience has led Woodson to become an ACA proponent.

“If it weren’t for the Affordable Care Act, I would have likely just died,” she said. “Having no symptoms, and at the time without insurance, I would have never known to get checked. I can only imagine it would have continued to get worse. But, because of the Affordable Care Act, I was able to get screened and there is no question it saved my life.”

Six months after diagnosis, Woodson was pronounced cancer free in January of 2016. Six years later, she had another unforgettable moment.

“On the 12th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act passing … “President [Barack] Obama FaceTimed me and I thought I was doing an interview or something,” Woodson recalled. “So, I wasn't in my pajamas or anything, but he said, ‘Hey DonnaMarie, this is Barrack.’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh this is not happening.’ I was just so excited. But, he thanked me for all of my advocacy for the Affordable Care Act. It was just an amazing thing.”

Woodson, 70, is still advocating for the ACA. It breaks her heart with pushback it has gotten from its inception. An estimated 4.8 to 5 million people are without health insurance in 2026 across the country due to the elimination of enhanced ACA subsidies, which has caused premiums to rise sharply according to KFF Health News and the Urban Institute. 

“There is no reason for the current administration to have attacked the Affordable Care Act,” Woodson said. “There has been a concerted effort to eliminate it ever since it got passed. … The bottom line is that everyone deserves to have affordable, quality health care. That is just a human right.”

“We don’t have to agree on anything else,” but we should all agree on the fact that every man, woman and child deserves to have a great quality of life. And, with these little piece by piece rollbacks, you are literally killing people. There is no way around it; there is no sugar coating it. And, for what? It doesn’t work? It has been working since it started in 2010.”

Comments