Between running her own business and teaching part-time, Paula Chenevey stayed busy with the work she had to do.
That all came to a halt, though, when Chenevey, who lives in Wooster, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012 and had no health insurance to cover it.
“I think that was the most frightening part of the diagnosis was not being insured,” Chenevey said in a telephone interview. “I didn’t really think about living or dying. I was thinking about who was going to treat me.”
Chenevey’s story is front and center in a television commercial for the Save My Care campaign, which ran nationally on cable and broadcast networks.
The Save My Care campaign is a national initiative to combat the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, as promised by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.
The ACA allows Chenevey, 52, to receive ongoing cancer treatments through Medicaid.
The ad features her playing with her two grandchildren as they ask U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who has been outspoken about repealing ACA, to consider their grandmother’s life.
“If there’s me, there’s millions more like me. I’m hoping by doing this commercial, by speaking out, it puts a face to what happens to real people,” she said. “This is not just people blowing hot air. This is a serious issue that affects people on a deep level.”
Chenevey was able to squeak by with funding from private foundations until 2014, when she learned the cancer had metastasized to her brain and liver.
By then, Gov. John Kasich had approved the Medicaid expansion allowed under the Affordable Care Act, and Chenevey carried on with more intensive therapy.
For the foreseeable future, Chenevey will continue to go through slew of treatments including chemotherapy every three weeks, daily medication, PET scans, MRIs and treatment for brain tumors and more. Still, she said wherever she and her health care providers can take steps to cut costs, they do so.
“There’s still a lot of care and treatment that I have to receive,” Chenevey said. “That’s what’s keeping me alive.”
Chenevey’s ad was one of two the campaign filmed to run nationally. The ad stops running Wednesday, but the future of Chenevey’s health care still hangs in the balance along with 964,000 other Ohioans who are covered under the ACA.
Portman has been outspoken about repealing the ACA, but he recently encouraged colleagues not to move forward with a repeal without having a defined replacement.
The ACA has received widespread criticism on both ends, from Democrats generally calling for its reform to Republicans wanting to scrap it altogether. Trump promised to repeal the act, but on Monday, he told reporters in the White House that it was an “unbelievably complex subject.”
As Congress works out where to take health care, Chenevey said she has faith lawmakers won’t repeal the act that covers 20 million Americans — many of whom are either unemployed or only work part-time, just like her.
“There’s a lot of chatter and talk about medical expenses and the idea that if you’re getting something for free, you’re irresponsible with it,” Chenevey said. “I’m not trying to get something for free. I’m trying to stay alive.”
Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @Theresa_Cottom .