I gave birth to my son with cancer growing in my chest.

Just five days later, I began chemotherapy. Brayden arrived early, tiny and fighting alongside his mother. Today, he’s a healthy toddler thriving in Early Head Start, and I’m a proud cancer survivor. But we didn’t get here alone. We relied on MaineCare, Maine’s Medicaid program, throughout this journey. Without access to MaineCare, we may not have made it.

I was working full time as a medical receptionist in a rural community when I learned I was pregnant. My pregnancy was filled with challenges. I had intense morning sickness during my first trimester. After Brayden’s father decided he wasn’t ready to be a parent, I had to leave my job and move back in with my parents, an hour away from my home and work.

The 20-week ultrasound showed Brayden was healthy, and that I had a large mass in my chest. The doctors determined it to be lymphoma. I delivered Brayden by C-section a month early. He went straight to the NICU, and I went straight into chemotherapy.

After six rounds of chemotherapy, I beat cancer. But I didn’t do it alone. MaineCare was the critical lifeline in my time of need, allowing me to afford care for both Brayden and myself. I am now both a mother and a survivor because of it.

I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if I had missed a form during my move, and we lost coverage.

More than half of MaineCare’s funding comes from federal Medicaid dollars. Medicaid provides life-saving support for people like me — hard-working parents who simply can’t afford the cost of surgery or chemotherapy out of pocket. As a single mother, Medicaid saved me and Brayden from crippling medical debt, just as it has for countless families across the country.

That’s why it’s so hard to understand how Congress could consider cutting more than $800 billion from Medicaid. Such devastating cuts would leave millions of families without access to life-saving, essential health care.

Earlier this year, Brayden and I joined 49 other families on Capitol Hill for ZERO TO THREE’s Strolling Thunder rally to call on Congress to protect Medicaid and SNAP, boost funding for programs like Head Start and Early Head Start and support the early childhood workforce. We met with lawmakers to share our stories and highlight just how important these programs are for families like mine.

Today, Brayden and I are healthy because we got the support we needed when it mattered most. Families should not have to decide between paying medical bills or putting food on the table. Without MaineCare, we wouldn’t have had a fighting chance.

I’m asking Congress to make sure every family gets the chance I had — the chance to live, and to give their baby the life they deserve.

Sen. Susan Collins, Sen. Angus King, please stand with families like mine. Reject cuts to Medicaid and invest in the program that keeps millions of us healthy and stable. Medicaid is not just a program; it was my family’s lifeline. It meant I could fight cancer and still be there for my baby. It meant Brayden got the NICU care he needed and continued access to regular checkups.

Thanks to Medicaid, I’m here to watch my son grow up and have the healthy start every child deserves. Congress must protect that for every family.