Need any added inspiration?

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Brian Fallon ‏@brianefallon 8h8 hours ago
Need any added inspiration? Read what my friend @JesseFFerguson (Deputy National Press Sec and Sr. Spox for @HillaryClinton) has battled while working to elect @HillaryClinton

November 3, 2016
I didn’t look like me any more…

It was an early morning in the first weeks of April, as I waded through the long, snake-like line at La Guardia airport to catch a flight down to Houston, Texas. This ritual trip to Houston to see the doctors at MD Anderson had become pretty standard over the last 3 years. As I’ve written about before, it would take about 36 hours for them to scan me and check to make sure the disease I fought in 2013 hadn’t returned.

This trip was a little different, though. About a month earlier I started getting concerned about the swelling in my face. You see, for over 2 years I’ve been fighting a side effect of my cancer treatment known as lymphedema. It creates swelling because of the surgeries and because of the things they removed to beat the disease. But, in spring of 2016, the swelling got a lot worse. By the time I was waiting for the plane to Houston, it had gotten hard to see because my eyes were nearly swollen shut. I was occasionally using my hand to keep them open.

But, like my breathing before, things can creep up on you and I don’t think I realized how bad it had gotten until I was in that airport security line. As I got to the front of the line, I gave my driver’s license and ticket to the TSA agent. But there was a problem: I didn’t look like me anymore. The agent wasn’t trying to be offensive or difficult – she was just doing her job. But I no longer looked like the picture on my license. My face, lips, cheeks and eyes were so swollen that she wasn’t comfortable signing off on the idea that the picture on my identification was the person standing in front of her. That’s when it hit me that things had started to really change.

I got through that security line with the help of a senior agent signing off and did my regular trip to Houston. But in the back of my mind I knew everything wasn’t right. I was back at home in New York on the very early morning of April 7th when the doctors from Houston called while I was still in bed. They confirmed what I already assumed – the cancer was back.

I did what I had done before with this disease: I sobbed a little in bed. I called my parents and told them. I gave myself 15 minutes for introspection and deep thinking. Then I opened up my laptop and went back to work...

By Election Day, I will have been on this presidential campaign for 650 days. While I’m obviously ready for it to be over, being part of it has been one of the greatest honors and privileges of my life. First, and foremost, that’s because of who I get to work for and what I believe is a stake in this election. I’m not going to get partisan while talking about my health, but I think it’s safe to say that this election isn’t just the same old thing. And I believe the stakes here are higher than anything I’ve ever seen – or hopefully will ever see.

Secondly, this is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid. I’m not sure exactly when I got the bug to do this. Maybe it was when I had a Dukakis bumper sticker at age 8. (Though that could have just been because I thought his name sounded funny). Maybe it was in the 1990s when I was leading high school debates on behalf of Republican candidates. (Yep, I was a young Republican.) I figure it’s fitting to work for a candidate who began as a Goldwater girl. Maybe it came from my die-hard Rockefeller Republican grandfather, who once had Joseph McCarthy on the witness stand in a libel case – and won. Maybe it was in college as I got more and more active in advocacy for higher education and in politics more generally. Or maybe I should just admit it was cemented watching Martin Sheen play Jed Bartlett. Who knows?

But I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, now I have the chance, and damnit, the disease that has plagued me for 3 years isn’t going to (entirely) stop me...

read more: http://jessefferguson.tumblr.com/post/152710193671/i-didnt-look-like-me-any-more


...get well soon, Jesse! Thanks for all you do! (You've been at the very top of my twitter toolbar throughout)

[mfcorey1]

1. Wishing you strength in your journey!