Love, Still the Greatest of All Things
Yesterday was a very difficult day for many Iowans.
For years, I’ve had the luxury of ‘having it all’. I've been able to live close to family, while having an unbelievable career in tech, all while living in a community I love–in Des Moines, Iowa. Never in a million years would I have predicted to have the life I do today. Not only am I the Chief Data Officer & Leader of Data Governance at an incredible technology company, but I am first and foremost, a mother to six wonderful children. Of the six, three of my kids are black and one identifies as a part of the LGBTQIA+ community.?Nothing hurts me more than when my kids are under attack. My kids are my absolute pride and joy. A few things about my kids:
There are amazing days, and there are really, epicly hard days.?
Yesterday was one of those epicly hard days.
Why? Because, yesterday, the Governor of Iowa signed legislation into law which prevents my oldest child from receiving life-saving medical care. No longer can he work with his doctors to determine the medical supports he needs to support his diagnoses. In fact, he is now legally prevented from doing so. My husband and I have had our parental rights stripped away as well--to make the best decisions for him within the state of Iowa.
What does this mean for us? Will we continue to live in Iowa? Will my kids' teachers be allowed to continue to support them? Will my kids' doctors be able to provide life saving medical care?
The hardest questions of all, that I type through streaming tears: Will my child continue to live? Will he make it to 18 without this critical care? How are we going to navigate this?
You might be thinking, gosh, hard story Wendy, but why does this belong on LinkedIn?
Because today I am not ok.
My family is not ok.
My kids are not ok.
Your team members in Iowa and across the US, are not ok.
Work is the last thing we are thinking about today. Because our kids are being attacked by adults. These adults are legislating critical medical care. They are not doctors. They don't know the challenges or complexities of these diagnoses. They are politicians, not physicians. And today they impacted my child's ability to live to see 18. It may sound simple, to say wait until 18...but surviving to 18 is the real risk here. My kid might not make it.
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We have been through some real hard sh*t with our kids: near loss of my life and our youngest child's life during childbirth, foster care, adoption, racism, transphobia, craniosynostosis, and I don’t even know how many hospital visits for cuts, bumps, bruises, illness, etc… but never in my life have I ever been so unbelievably scared.?
Iowa just put a whole lot more kids at risk for death by suicide. Brain health is already in critically terrible shape among our youth, and today just made it a whole lot worse.
I’ve added a few resources below for those who need it. Lord knows we do too. If you want to help here are a few things you can do:
Brain Health Crisis Information (Iowa)
Your Life Iowa:
National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 988
Polk County Mobile Crisis: 911 [They can come to you!]
UnityPoint Walk-in Clinic
Additional Resources
Keep up the good fight! Nebraska is trying to do the same and thankfully we have some legislators standing up for the rights of our LGBTQ+ community.
Co-Founder + CEO Sobrynth, Sober Advocate, Speaker I Co-Founder, Soberforce I CHIEF member I Ex-Salesforce
1 年Standing alongside you, Wendy. We will keep fighting for our kids and their healthcare / safety!
U.S. Distribution Supply Chain Specialist at Henry Schein
1 年I tried desperately to explain the dominoe effect that the targeted overturning of Roe v. Wade would have on women's rights along with the rights of our LGTBQ+ friends. I was not only ignored, but usually argued with. What I described is exactly what is now happening across the U.S. where we have religious beleif systems being used to directly impacting laws. What we are seeing is nothing more than bigotry, hatred, and the judgement of others lifestyles being deliberately used to harm others.
GTM Operations Executive @ ServiceNow | Ex-VMware and Cisco | Bringing Product Mindset, Operations and Finance Focus to Data Analytics to increase Sales Opportunities and Sales Productivity.
1 年Wendy Batchelder Standing there with you and #lgbtqia community and their families. Medical care should be universal, regardless of gender, race, religion, socio-economic realities. This arbitrary Iowa law shows bias, and has implications not only on its residents and businesses but also on any of us visiting Iowa. We are going backwards. #notokay.
Data Management Leader: Data Governance | Master Data| Data Strategy| Compliance| Employee Engagement | Business Engagement
1 年This is a very concerning time in the US. There are laws and proposed laws being put in place that hurt our children and make them feel like they don’t have choices and aren’t supported. It’s terrifying. This news you shared is heartbreaking. Just know that while your government may not support you, many of us do and feel outraged at this legislation. America should be about allowing choice and diversity and acceptance. Sending love and support your way and to your family and millions of others impacted by this close-minded decision.