In early May 2025, a woman felt a sharp pain shoot from her hip while she bent over to tend to her garden. Then she fell over and was unable to rise.
Her husband called an ambulance and she was admitted in a hospital, where, at 57, doctors discovered she had a mass on her spine. The diagnosis was metastatic breast cancer.
"There was no indication this would occur, and I was devastated. Initially, I didn’t clearly understand that it was part of my breast cancer that had metastasized to my spine, which I learned was a common place for it to go," she explained.
"If I were to die prematurely, I could not imagine leaving [my husband] here. We really don’t have little family. We don’t have any children."
Following the victory in the 2024 presidential election, Michaela’s husband prepared to be forced to return to in-person work at the DOT in Washington DC. He had been teleworking since the beginning of the global pandemic, from their residence outside Baltimore.
On Trump’s first day in office on 20 January, an executive order was signed demanding all federal agencies end all remote work arrangements. Federal personnel officials directed agencies to enact the order despite existing union agreements.
"My spouse is a long-time employee in government service, and he’s an expert in his field. He has worked for 20 years more now, so it is draining for him. We are in our fifties. He was leaving the house at 5 a.m. in the morning and returning at seven at night," she stated. Her identity is protected as her husband still works at the Department of Transportation and fears retaliation.
In July, Michaela had surgery, a laminectomy. A few weeks after that, she had stereotactic radiation, and is currently on an oncology regimen called Kisqali alongside hormone therapy.
She was previously diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer a decade ago, but was able to treat it, as it was caught early, with a partial lumpectomy, radiation, chemotherapy and tamoxifen. With consistent monitoring, she stayed on top of it, before her recent diagnosis of advanced metastatic breast cancer.
Surviving Reductions in Force and Reorganization
Over the past year, her spouse avoided reductions in force at the DOT. By spring, thousands of employees had departed the department, due to those reductions as well as employees retiring and voluntary resignations.
Per a memo on its plan for reductions in force and reorganization, the agency estimated that by December 31, 2025, its workforce would be reduced by approximately 20 percent from levels at the start of the year.
This would correlate to more than 10,000 reduced staff at the department. Government workforce reductions have surpassed targets, with hundreds of thousands of workers leaving the federal government and only a fraction of replacements.
"We were concerned about layoffs. We understand based on the way things are operating, that this is always on the table because they ignore the law," 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 1 October a shutdown of the U.S. government began, continuing for 43 days, the longest in American history.
Michaela and her husband marked their 18th wedding anniversary in the fall, while the shutdown continued, but remained home because finances prevented them to dine out due to her husband not being paid for multiple weeks.
She is relieved the federal closure ended as she was worried about healthcare costs, but laments the rising costs in insurance premiums she and her husband have experienced, as well as for those who rely on insurance through the ACA exchanges.
"I felt desperate. I felt impoverished. I felt flabbergasted, frightened, and I observed my husband and there were a few times where he was sitting at his desk and he was just staring out the window. He was becoming despondent," she said.
A Personal Offense
"We’re just one drop in a ocean of millions people who work so hard to get where they are, who attempt to do the right thing, and those who are making all the decisions are just ransacking and leading the government and viewing federal workers like adversaries, that they are lesser citizens, and that they should be attacked. I find this personally offensive to that," she said.
Future Uncertainty
She is now worried is another possible approaching federal closure in late January, with the vast majority of government funding set to expire again without a permanent agreement.
"The temporary funding measure is up for renewal again at the end of January and I am thinking this is going to happen once more. We’ve been through multiple closures. This was decidedly the worst," she stated. "I’m already battling a life-threatening illness, and I don’t know what the future holds. I may survive for a couple more years. I could be here for 10 years."
