The Party May Be Over, But Don't Turn Out The Lights

Last Sunday, sports legend Don Meredith passed away in the small town of Santa Fe, NM. After an accomplished career in the NFL, Meredith squired greater fame for his color commentary on Monday Night Football, ending the broadcast with lines from the classic Willie Nelson song, “The Party’s Over”, howling each week, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over”. The words rang loudly for the fans of the losing team each week, driving home the “L” in the stat books.
In the neighboring state of Arizona, there has been much attention this week, both locally and nationally, on the life of another great athlete, Tiffany Tate, and the battle to save her life. Tate has never played sports professionally, but has lived a life dedicated to being an athlete in spite of her daily struggle to breathe caused by Cystic Fibrosis. She grew up on the soccer field and on the basketball court, always giving her all to her team. Even now, unable to work in a traditional job because of her disease, she still gives her all to another team, coaching girls basketball at Seton Catholic Prep High School in Chandler. Instead of giving up, she is helping out as a volunteer of her time, talent and love. Why is she in the news?
After 27 years, and now at only 25 percent lung capacity, Tiffany faces the need for a lung transplant to go on living. That hope was quashed when she received a letter in July notifying her that she had been removed from the transplant list, due to the budget cutbacks and reduction in coverage through AHCCCS, her state provided health insurance, now excluding the transplant, estimated at $227,000. She has become the face and story representing 96 other Arizonans penalized with the same death sentence issued by the denial of coverage.
According to www.azsenatedemocrats.com , the first bill of 2011 will be to restore transplant coverage to AHCCCS, enabling the 97 Arizonans who are on the plan and currently need transplants to have it paid for by the public health plan our tax dollars were intended to provide. These people are fighting for their lives physically, emotionally and unfortunately financially.
During this time of cheer and good tidings, we should all be called to action to help these 97 individuals and their families have a return of hope. We can all do something to help, whether it is a donation to the fundraisers, sending a positive message to them or taking the time to phone the governors’ office to voice our views or reaching out to our representatives to enlist their support and vote to reinstate the coverage.
Whichever side of the aisle you support, this holiday season is a time when we can all come together to call our government to action. The 97 people, “Tate’s Team”, deserve a chance to walk down the aisle and live a full life, instead of being carried down the aisle before their time, because the democrats and republicans couldn’t work together as a team. It really is a time of year when we need to shed some light on the “parties” and make sure that Tate’s Team doesn’t lose this game!