Samantha and her dog "Jane"

This is a picture of my daughter Samantha and her dog Jane. I am her mother, Sally.

When Samantha was two weeks old, her pediatrician at the time detected a murmur. One week later I was told that she had a VSD. I was also told that she would outgrow it. As a six year old now it is barely audible. We still had to be careful with all IVs and dental work.

As a private school teacher I never had the option of work-related insurance. (Not many private Montessori schools can afford to provide this for their employees.) I am currently working for a wonderful school that does happen to provide insurance, however it is extremely expensive! As a single parent without much support from her father I can not afford my school's insurance ($516.00 per month, 1/4 of my paycheck!). I searched and searched and finally found a private insurance company that I can afford. Although Samantha suffers from chronic ailments such as bacterial pneumonia (six times), asthma, bronchitis, untreatable labored breathing, and continuous sweating, to name a few, the insurance company had only one issue, Samantha's VSD.

To make a long story short, I had to get a cardiologist to "clear" her VSD in order for them to cover Samantha's cardiovascular system. I didn't think this was going to be a big issue at all. Her health issues are not cardio related I thought, they were respiratory related. I went ahead and found a pediatric cardiologist in Victoria, Texas that was used to working with the underprivileged. He did a very thorough exam and found another hole "the size of a dime". Not the news I was expecting. This "new" hole, which she has had since birth, is an ASD. Although no doctor wants to confirm that this has been the cause of her respiratory problems I suspect having the hole closed will ease her many health problems.

Here is where we are today. My discount insurance policy will not cover anything cardio related due to the recent news of her gaping ASD. I have applied for CHIPS and Medicaid. They say I make too much money. I have tried to contact Social Security over this issue, because the social worker told me she is now considered disabled. They do not agree with the social worker, go figure! Please help point me in the right direction. I have no other leads.

Thank you very much for reading our story.

February 26, 2004 Update

In April of 2003, after chasing many rabbits and sending tons and tons of paperwork to every agency, Samantha was finally approved to have her ASD closure device done in a wonderful hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas. The Driscol Children's hospital answered our prayers and letters and welcomed Samantha with open arms. We were only responsible for the anesthesiologist bill. Dr. Kahn was the pediatric cardiologist who performed the device closure procedure.

The surgery went well and her ASD is now completely healed. Samantha's breathing problems have diminished greatly. She was seeing her pediatrician on a monthly basis prior to the surgery. In the year after the surgery, she has only had to see him once for bout with the stomach flu!