Gloria Winograd

"I woke up one morning at 3 a.m. I felt an explosion of pain. I knew something was wrong..."

By #UnionProud Stories

March 3^rd, 2016

BY GLORIA WINOGRAD

I woke up one morning at 3 a.m. It was like a bomb went off in my back. I felt an explosion of pain. I knew something was wrong. It was 1992. I was a 4th-grade teacher. And it happened on my 40th birthday.

After a year of excruciating tests, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I had stage 4 cancer. I lost 85 pounds in one year. I started chemotherapy, and they put me on an experimental regimen of new medications to treat Hodgkin’s. It was very expensive. And then I needed injections to boost my white blood cell count, which was destroyed by the chemotherapy. Each shot was $800. The thing that scared me was that my parents would have to bury me. I was very sick.

Then my oncologist discovered a small breast tumor. I had a double mastectomy. I saw the hospital bills, I knew what it cost. The hospital room alone for 12 days was $28,000. Overall, it probably cost a half-million dollars to save my life. It would have wiped out everything my family had. My life was saved with the health insurance provided by the UFT. I don’t know how others cope. For me, every day is a birthday.

My union supports my work, protects my rights, advocates for my profession locally and nationally and offers professional development, health and pension benefits, and counseling for personal issues. It literally saved my life. My union is my rock.