Beautiful! It's too much for me to sing out loud; I'm singing in my heart and spirit.
I think of all of the generations that came before me and all that they had to endure so that I could even exist. I have some Blackfoot ancestry on my mother's father's side of the family; with the last name Defoe. My great grandmother; on my mother's side of the family, died giving birth to my grandmother. My great grandmother; on my father's side of the family, was able to come to America as a teenager from Poland and to create a new life and a family for herself here. Her brother; who stayed in Poland, was shot and killed by a Nazi soldier while he was out gathering firewood.
I'm an only child and I was never well enough to have children. I got sick at age 17; when I had mono and a severe strep throat at the same time. Now, I'm 50. I haven't been well enough to trace my family tree and I'm missing branches I'll never create in my family tree because of the politics of this disease.
For me, it's been 33 years of lies, lack of appropriate medical care, lack of understanding and persecution that I’ve endured. When this happens in a household, it’s considered neglect and domestic violence and it’s criminal. Why is it accepted when doctors and governments do it? This is unconscionable. The government needs to act substantially, extensively and appropriately now. No more generations should be lost to this disease.