To Whom It May Concern

                                                                                                              

To Whom It May Concern;

We are reaching out to you to help get Emily M. Snider health care insurance via the State of Missouri.  Emily is 24 year old, a college student, and primary caregiver to her mom who has cancer.

Emily attended Fontbonne University and her freshman year had a seizure in her Algebra class.  She was transported to a nearby hospital because during the seizure she stopped breathing and could not be resuscitated.  In the ER she was resuscitated and by herself with no family and no idea why she was there.  Her seizures have continued with frequency since 2014. In 2016 she came home from college to care for her mom who has cancer.  It was her hope in returning home that she would be able to get the seizures under control.

In September 2017 she was officially diagnosed with epilepsy by Dr. Hedges at the Kansas City Neurology Assoc LLC.  She has no health care insurance and her family has been paying for her medical care.  Her seizures are not controlled, she stops breathing during each for at least 10 minutes before she is resuscitated.  She takes meds to control her seizures but they aren't keeping her seizure free. She is unable to drive, can not work, and has to live at home in order to be monitored and keep her safe when she has a seizure.

Her current neurologist, Dr. Hedges, wants to refer her to a epilepsy specialist in neurology.  She believes because Emily is young she would be a good candidate for brain surgery.  This requires Emily to see a specialist in epilepsy to get started.  The specialists are too expensive for her family to pay and Emily needs health care insurance because of her epilepsy. The Snider family looked into buying health insurance for Emily but because of her epilepsy diagnosis it is too expensive for them to afford.

Her family applied on September 25, 2017 and have been told her case is "in process".  They have been told it can take up to three months to hear back from the State of Missouri if she has been approved or declined.  She can not wait any longer.  She has had three seizures within the past two months that could have killed her.  Imagine, your child, dropping to the floor, seizing and they stop breathing. Or coming home from chemo and finding your child seizing.  Both these are the Snider families reality.

We are writing in hopes you can speed the process of her application for health insurance via the State of Missouri. We need your help to get her approved asap.  It is a matter of life or death that this young girl in our community have insurance.  She is a vibrant member of the her community who hopes to be a counselor to families and children.  We need you to make calls, wake people up, and rally for Emily Snider.

Thank you for your time and effort.  We look forward to seeing Emily with health care insurance asap!

Peace be with you-



List of Senators and Representatives;

Vicki Hartzler 1-220-225-2876 For Vicky, I went to her website and typed “email” in search bar and filled out form


Donna Pfautsch 1-573-751-9766 Donna.Pfautsch@house.mo.gov

Roy Blunt 1-202-224-5721
Blunt, website and then contact is under the drop down menu, fill out form.

Claire McCaskell (has an office in KC at 4141 Penn Ave, KC, Mo)  1-816-421-1639  or her DC number is 1-202-224-6154 senator@mccaskill.senate.gov
 

  **We would like to start to rally.  These are the ways you can help us: 

•  Email this letter once to each of our reps that hold state and federal office by copying and pasting this letter.  Do this today and continue to send them daily until Emily has insurance.

  Make a phone call to one or all of the reps.  You can do this once or daily. We want them inundated.

  If you live or work in KC and would drop into Claire McCaskills office to be Emily's voice and drop off a copy of the letter personally. McCaskill has an office at 4141 Penn, KC, Mo. 

  Share on your social media daily with the link to this letter for others to rally behind Emily.  

  Use the #healthinsurance4Emily #epilepsy on social media ; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and any others

  Contact these reps via social media.  They all have Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.  Copy & Paste this letter on their Facebook page.  Tweet them with  #healthinsurance4Emily #epilepsy.  

• •