Now, she's in the fight of her life against cancer and faces one of the biggest travesties of all: no health insurance.
Susan's life took another drastic turn in 1989 when her father, a 30-year veteran and decorated Chicago police detective, murdered her mother, Roberta, with his department-issued service revolver - a .44 magnum - then took his own life. Susan vowed to, for the rest of her life, speak for the victims of domestic violence - what she has termed "intimate partner violence" - to give them a voice and the tools to survive.
Susan, diagnosed in early June with stage IV cancer, isn't unlike many Americans who find themselves in similar circumstances without adequate medical coverage. Besides being pricey, the variations of coverage often don't pay the cost of treatment. According to a 2010 survey by the Center for Disease Control, 46 million Americans are without health insurance. One person, by my way of thinking, is too many.
