During the spring of 2025, Michaela felt a sharp pain shoot from her hip while she bent over to tend to her garden. Then she fell over and couldn’t get back up.
Her husband called an ambulance and she was admitted in a hospital, where, at 57, doctors discovered she had a tumor on her spine. The diagnosis was metastatic breast cancer.
"There was no indication this would occur, and I was devastated. At first, I didn’t clearly understand that it was part of my breast cancer that had metastasized to my spine, which I learned is common for it to go," she explained.
"If I were to die prematurely, I cannot bear the thought of leaving [my husband] here. We have little family. We don’t have any children."
When Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Michaela’s husband prepared to be forced to return to in-person work at the Department of Transportation in Washington DC. He had been teleworking since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, from their home outside Baltimore.
On Trump’s first day in office in January, an executive order was signed requiring all federal agencies terminate all remote work arrangements. The office of personnel management directed agencies to enact the order irrespective of existing union agreements.
"My husband’s a veteran in government service, and he is highly skilled in his field. He’s been doing this for two decades more now, so it is draining for him. We’re in our 50s. He departed the house at five o’clock in the morning and returning at 7 p.m. at night," she stated. Her identity is protected as her husband still works at the agency and is concerned about retaliation.
During the summer, she underwent an operation, a laminectomy. A few weeks after that, she had stereotactic radiation, and is now taking an cancer treatment called Kisqali and hormone therapy.
She had stage one breast cancer in 2014, but was able to treat it, as it was caught early, with a surgical procedure, radiation, chemotherapy and hormonal medication. With consistent monitoring, she managed her health, prior to her latest diagnosis of stage four metastatic breast cancer.
Navigating Job Cuts and Restructuring
Over the past year, her spouse survived layoffs at the DOT. By May, thousands of employees had left the agency, due to the cuts as well as retirements and people quitting.
According to a internal document on its plan for reductions in force and reorganization, the agency estimated that by the end of next year, its workforce would be cut by approximately 20 percent from earlier levels.
This would correlate to more than 10,000 reduced staff at the department. Government workforce reductions have exceeded goals, with a significant number of workers leaving the federal government and only a fraction of new hires.
"We were concerned about layoffs. It is clear based on the way this administration functions, that this is always on the table because they ignore established rules," she elaborated.
She added that jobs for specializations at the agency are hard to come by and contractors often want to pay reduced wages.
Facing a Federal Closure
While the DOT was losing staff, on October 1st a shutdown of the U.S. government began, continuing for 43 days, the most protracted in American history.
Michaela and her husband marked their 18th anniversary in early November, while the shutdown continued, but remained home because they couldn’t afford to dine out due to her husband going without a paycheck for multiple weeks.
She is relieved the federal closure ended as she was anxious over medical bills, but rues the rising costs in healthcare premiums she and her husband have experienced, and for those who rely on healthcare through the ACA exchanges.
"I felt hopeless. I felt impoverished. I felt flabbergasted, scared, and I watched my husband and there were a few times where he sat at his desk and he gazed out the window. He was becoming despondent," she recounted.
Feeling Targeted
"We are merely one example in a bucket of millions people who strive diligently to achieve their positions, who try to do the correct thing, and the people who are making all the decisions are just ransacking and managing the government and viewing federal workers like adversaries, that they are lesser citizens, and that they should be attacked. And I take personal offense to that," she expressed.
A Looming Threat
She is now worried is a potential approaching federal closure on 30 January 2026, with the vast majority of federal funds set to lapse again absent a long-term deal.
"The continuing resolution is up for renewal again on the 30th of January and I am thinking this will repeat all over again. We have endured several shutdowns. This was decidedly the most severe," she stated. "I am already fighting a life-threatening illness, and I am uncertain what the future holds. I may survive for a couple more years. I might live for a decade."
