Stage-Four Cancer and Federal Cuts: A Couple’s Fight for Health and Security Under the Trump Administration

In early May 2025, Michaela, 57, felt a sudden, sharp pain that shot from her hip while she bent to water plants. She collapsed and could not get back up. After an overnight hospital stay, doctors discovered a mass on her spine — metastatic breast cancer.

“I had no warning that that was going to happen, and I was devastated,”

Michaela said. At first she did not fully grasp that the spinal lesion was cancer that had spread from her earlier breast cancer — a pattern she later learned is common.

Diagnosis and Treatment

In July, Michaela underwent a laminectomy to relieve pressure on her spine. She subsequently received stereotactic radiation and is currently on an oncology regimen that includes Kisqali (ribociclib) plus hormone therapy. Michaela was first treated for stage-one breast cancer in 2014 with a partial lumpectomy, radiation, chemotherapy and tamoxifen; regular follow-up had kept that disease under control until the new metastatic diagnosis.

Workplace and Financial Pressure

Michaela’s husband is a long-serving Department of Transportation (DOT) employee who had worked remotely from their home outside Baltimore since the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the 2024 election, the new administration issued an executive order on 20 January directing federal agencies to end remote-work arrangements, and the Office of Personnel Management instructed agencies to implement the order even where collective-bargaining agreements appeared to protect telework.

Throughout 2025 the DOT carried out rounds of reductions in force. By May the agency had lost nearly 2,800 employees to layoffs, retirements and resignations; a DOT memo estimated the workforce would be reduced by roughly 20 percent from February 2025 levels by the end of that year — a figure that could translate to more than 10,000 positions. The Office of Personnel Management later reported that federal departures outpaced hiring, with 317,000 workers leaving government jobs and just 68,000 hires recorded by late November.

“My husband’s a veteran with the administration, and he’s an expert in his field,” Michaela said. “He’s been doing this for 20 years now, so it’s exhausting for him.” She described his long office days and the toll they took on his energy while she underwent treatment.

Shutdown and Emotional Toll

On 1 October a federal government shutdown began and lasted 43 days — the longest in U.S. history. During that period the couple celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary at home because her husband went unpaid for weeks. Michaela said she worried constantly about medical bills and the rising cost of health-care premiums under her husband’s federal plan, and she voiced concern for those who purchase coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

“I felt desperate. I felt destitute. I felt flabbergasted, scared,” she said, describing nights when her husband would sit staring out the window and drift toward depression. She also criticized the administration’s treatment of federal employees: “We’re just one drop in a bucket of millions of people who work so hard... and the people who are making all the decisions are ransacking the government and treating federal workers like enemies.”

Looking Ahead

The couple now fears another funding lapse: a continuing resolution is scheduled for a vote on 30 January 2026, and without a long-term appropriations deal many federal programs could again lapse. Facing a life-threatening illness, Michaela said she does not know how long she will live. “I could be here for another year or two. I could be here for 10 years,” she said.

The Guardian is using a pseudonym because her husband remains employed at DOT and fears retaliation.