With one year to go before the 2012 general election and on the heels of October's jobless report, Yahoo! News asked readers and contributors to share their personal employment stories. Below is one perspective.
FIRST PERSON | In late 2006, I was a busy massage therapist working in a hospital for a program I had helped start. Between my 32-hour week at the hospital, my private clients, and some child support, I had a decent income for a single mom in San Mateo, Calif.
I had excellent health care benefits, without which I am sure I would not be alive today. My income was right around the median of $60,000 a year. Supporting my two children on this was tight in this expensive part of the world, but we managed.
In early 2007, I was diagnosed with Stage IIIC Inflammatory Breast Cancer and knocked abruptly out of the working world. The next 14 months were devoted to fighting for my life. I had aggressive treatment, and my oncologist did not want me exposed to the germs my clients would bring me. Fortunately, I was immediately qualified for disability, evidently because I was not expected to live.
In early 2008, I jubilantly rejoined the work force, cancer-free, just as the recession was gathering momentum. The massage department shut down. I had to have health insurance because I knew I was at high risk for recurrence and no private insurer would cover me. I became a secretary for another department, and the long hours at the computer were disastrous. I developed lymphedema in my left arm, which caused it to ache and swell. In August of 2009, that department shut down. My disability resumed, and the hospital's insurer, MetLife, supplied the difference between what Social Security Disability paid and two-thirds of my previous income.
I haven't had even a half-time job since.
Now, in 2011, I have patched together a work life of several jobs that allows me to work within my limitations. With the current national unemployment rate at 9 percent, I am just happy to work at all. When I lost my secretarial job, my fiance and I moved up our wedding date and I was able to get health insurance. I shudder to think of what could have happened to me otherwise, if my cancer had come back! MetLife decided after two years that my memory problems (chemo-brain) and gimpy left arm allowed me to work as a file clerk for 40 hours per week, and informed me two weeks after they sent their last check. They declined to clarify where I could actually find this job.
I currently provide massage therapy to children at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital for about 20 hours a month. I teach theater arts to children. I visit elderly people with mild dementia and keep them engaged. I blog and advocate for the end of breast cancer. I see the occasional private client and elevate my arm afterward. I earn about one-third of what I earned before. I hope that 2012 will open doors to more hours, more jobs, or both.
My husband is still supporting his own children, so our combined income is barely sufficient. We are fed, clothed and sheltered, but braces for my teenagers will have to wait.
This Saturday I celebrate my 50th birthday and I'm still here. For now that's enough.
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