My name is Dave “Stretch” Tuemmler, and I am a small-business owner in Portland. If it were not for the Affordable Care Act, I would probably not be alive today.
Nearly three years ago, I was diagnosed with myxofibrosarcoma – a rare type of cancer that forms in connective tissue, which first attacked my elbow, then my lungs, and then my lymphatic system. Without insurance, my medical bills would be nearly a million dollars, which would have forced me to sell my house to get treatment.
If it were not for protections for people with pre-existing conditions in the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies would have declined to insure me. However, thanks to the treatment I have been able to receive through the ACA, I have already lived nearly three times as long as the average person with this disease. I am hoping to survive long enough to see advances in immunotherapy and other treatments.
Last year I spoke on a panel with Sen. Collins about the future of health care. She had just taken a brave stance in opposing the bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
However, if she votes to confirm Brett Kavanaugh – who is extremely hostile to the ACA – to the Supreme Court, she is voting to deny me the lifesaving care that I need to survive. She is also denying care to my wife, Jenny, who suffers from fibromyalgia, and my 25-year-old son, Kasch, who suffers from gastroparesis, a condition that affects the stomach muscles and prevents the stomach from properly emptying. She is also denying care to the 24 million Americans insured under the Affordable Care Act.
I urge her to do what’s right and give me and countless other cancer survivors access to the lifesaving care we desperately need.
Dave “Stretch” Tuemmler
owner, Stretch Studio
Yarmouth
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