She Has Stage Four Cancer. Her Spouse Works as a Federal Worker. Can She Survive This Political Era?
During the spring of 2025, a woman experienced a sudden, stabbing ache radiate from her hip as she leaned down to tend to her garden. Then she fell over and couldn’t get back up.
Her spouse summoned emergency services and she spent the night in a hospital, where, at 57, doctors discovered she had a tumor on her spine. The diagnosis was metastatic breast cancer.
"I had no warning that that was going to happen, and I was devastated. At first, I wasn't fully aware that it was part of my breast cancer which had spread to my spine, a location is common for it to go," she said.
"Should I pass away early, I cannot bear the thought of leaving [my husband] here. We really don’t have any family. We don’t have any children."
When Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Michaela’s husband prepared to be forced back into the office at the Department of Transportation in Washington DC. He had worked remotely since the beginning of the global pandemic, from their residence outside Baltimore.
On the inaugural day in office on 20 January, an executive order was signed requiring all federal agencies end all remote work arrangements. The office of personnel management instructed agencies to implement the policy despite existing union agreements.
"My husband’s a veteran with the administration, and he is highly skilled in his field. He has worked for two decades now, so it is draining for him. We are in our fifties. He departed the house at five o’clock in the morning and getting home at seven at night," Michaela said. Her real name is withheld as her husband still works at the agency and is concerned about reprisal.
In July, she underwent an operation, a laminectomy. Shortly following that, she had stereotactic radiation, and is now taking an cancer treatment called Kisqali alongside hormone therapy.
She was previously diagnosed with stage one breast cancer a decade ago, but was able to treat it, due to early detection, with a partial lumpectomy, radiation, chemotherapy and hormonal medication. With consistent monitoring, she stayed on top of it, prior to her recent diagnosis of stage four metastatic breast cancer.
Navigating Job Cuts and Reorganization
Throughout this year, Michaela’s husband avoided layoffs at the Department of Transportation. By spring, nearly 2,800 employees had departed the department, due to the cuts as well as employees retiring and voluntary resignations.
According to a internal document on its plan for staff reductions and reorganization, the agency estimated that by the end of next year, its staffing levels would be reduced by approximately 20 percent from levels at the start of the year.
This translates to over ten thousand reduced staff at the Department of Transportation. Federal employee cuts have exceeded goals, with a significant number of workers exiting the federal government and a small number of replacements.
"We were concerned about layoffs. We understand based on the way things are operating, that this is always on the table because policies disregard established rules," she elaborated.
She added that jobs for specializations at the agency are hard to come by and contractors often want to pay reduced wages.
Enduring a Government Shutdown
While the DOT was losing staff, on 1 October a closure of the U.S. government began, continuing for 43 days, the most protracted in American history.
The couple marked their 18th anniversary in early November, during the ongoing closure, but remained home because they couldn’t afford to go out to eat due to her husband not being paid for several weeks.
She is relieved the federal closure concluded as she was worried about healthcare costs, but rues the increases in healthcare premiums she and her husband have experienced, and for those who rely on insurance through the ACA exchanges.
"I felt hopeless. I felt destitute. I felt flabbergasted, scared, and I watched my husband and on several occasions where he sat at his desk and he gazed out the window. He was getting depressed," she recounted.
Feeling Targeted
"We’re just one drop in a ocean of countless people who strive diligently to achieve their positions, who try to do the correct thing, and those who are setting policy are seemingly dismantling and leading the government and viewing federal workers like adversaries, that they are not citizens, and that they should be attacked. I find this personally offensive to that," she expressed.
Future Uncertainty
She is now worried is a potential approaching government shutdown on 30 January 2026, with the bulk of federal funds set to lapse again without a long-term deal.
"The continuing resolution is up for renewal again at the end of January and I am thinking this is going to happen all over again. We’ve been through multiple closures. This by far was the most severe," she stated. "I am already fighting a life-threatening illness, and I don’t know where it’s going to take me. I could be here for another year or two. I could be here for a decade."
