In August of 2018, my father had pain in his abdoman. We took him to the Providence VA late in the evening. After testing and xrays, it was discovered that he had a strangulated hermia. The attending physcian asked if we would like to page the on-duty surgeon. He arrived sometime around midnight. The young surgeon looked at all the data and examined my father himself. He also came to the conclusion that he had a stangulated hernia. He recommended that the statistics would give my father a 65% chance of surviving surgery and we should just take him home and make him comfortable. I asked if we take him home, would he die. And the surgeon said yes. So, I said it would be better to take a chance with surgery. At least he would have a 65% chance of survival. He was reluctant, but finally decided to try to push the hernia back in by hand. After two hours, he succeded and admitted my father for observation.
The next morning before my mother and I returned, the another surgeon examined him and gave him a 5% chance of surviving surgery and said he would not operate even if my father wanted it. So, they released him and we took him home. About a week later, we took my father to a surgeon who works in another hospital.
I told the new surgeon the whole story. After a thorough examination the surgeon said that he performed this same surgery on people in much worse physical shape than my father. They went through the surgery and recovery well and he had no concerns with performing the required hernia surgery on him. However, before he could schedule the surgery his office would need a referral letter from the VA so that my father’s insurance would cover the procedure.
I immediately called the VA for a referral letter. After for a week of phone calls and pleading with VA personnel they refused to give the required referral. Knowing of President Trump’s concern for the ordinary citizen I decided to write him a personal letter in the hopes that he could rectify the situation. On 17 August 2018, I wrote to the President explaining the situation and asking for his intervention. To my suprise, I received a telephone call from the VA asking for a meeting with me and my parents. I asked them why they wanted this meeting and I was told: “You wrote to the President.” We met with the Director of the Providence VA, Chief of Staff, Chief of Surgery, and head of nursing. By the end of the meeting we received the desired referral letter. My father had the surgery and went through with no problems. Unfortunately, my father’s COPD caught up with him and he passed away on 18 April 2019. However, if it were not for President Donald J. Trump’s intervention, my father would have died a cruel death long before his disease took its toll.
This personal experience among many other stories makes it so clear that President Trump cares about the little guy. He cuts through the politics and he seeks justice for all Americans. For this I am grateful. Thank you, President Trump! God bless you!
