Medina County woman who was face of health care debate in 2010 waits for decision

MEDINA, Ohio - When the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the fate of President Barack Obama’s health care law, the person who was the face of the president’s effort won’t be glued to a television.

No, Natoma Canfield will be getting together with her cousins at a Medina restaurant like she does every Thursday morning.

“Every week all of our cousins get together, we’ve done that for years,” said Canfield.

It was Canfield who wrote to the president in late 2009 explaining that, as a cancer survivor, her pre-existing condition had driven her health insurance premiums to such heights that she could no longer afford to carry insurance. She wrote that she now lived with the fear of getting sick and losing her childhood home.

The president not only wrote Canfield back, but took her letter into a White House meeting and read it to a group of insurance company executives.

The president’s actions thrust the Medina County woman into the spotlight; less than a week later though Canfield collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with leukemia.

Just days after that, the president came to neighboring Strongsville to rally support for his health care reform bill, introduced by Natoma’s sister Connie Anderson.

“You want to know why I’m here, Ohio,” the president asked the crowd. “I’m here for Natoma.”

The president would get his health care bill passed and when he signed it into law, Connie Anderson stood in for her sister at the White House signing ceremony standing behind Obama.

Canfield eventually received a stem cell transplant of umbilical cord blood. It’s been a long road but she proudly shares she is cancer-free.

“My oncologist is very happy. I'm very happy too. I'm starting to have a life," she said.

Canfield is hopeful the Supreme Court upholds the health care law, though she admits the changes wouldn’t affect her. Because of her finances, she ended up qualifying for Medicaid and she didn’t have to worry about losing her home.

On Sunday, she said she received several calls from the White House just to follow up with her on the eve of the decision.

"I asked the White House staff, I said 'Do you have any idea how it's going to come down?' And she says 'No, we'll see it on CNN just like you will.'"

Actually, she won’t. She’ll be out with her cousins enjoying the gift she got two years ago - life.