During the spring of 2025, Michaela experienced a sudden, stabbing ache radiate from her hip while she bent over to water some plants. She collapsed and was unable to rise.
Her husband summoned emergency services and she was admitted in a hospital, where, in her late fifties, doctors discovered she had a mass on her spine. It was metastatic breast cancer.
"There was no indication this would occur, and I was devastated. Initially, I wasn't fully aware 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.
"Should I pass away early, I could not imagine leaving [my husband] here. We really don’t have any family. We don’t have children of our own."
When Trump won the 2024 presidential election, her spouse prepared to be forced back into the office at the Department of Transportation in Washington DC. He had been teleworking since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, from their residence outside Baltimore.
On the inaugural day in office in January, he issued demanding all federal agencies terminate all remote work arrangements. The office of personnel management instructed agencies to enact the order irrespective of collective bargaining contracts.
"My husband’s a veteran with the administration, and he is highly skilled in his field. He has worked for two decades now, so it’s exhausting for him. We are in our fifties. He was leaving the house at five o’clock in the morning and returning at seven at night," Michaela said. Her real name is withheld as her husband remains employed at the agency and is concerned about reprisal.
During the summer, she underwent an operation, a laminectomy. Shortly following that, she had stereotactic radiation, and is now taking an oncology regimen called Kisqali alongside hormone therapy.
She was previously diagnosed with stage one breast cancer in 2014, but successfully treated it, due to early detection, with a surgical procedure, radiation, chemotherapy and hormonal medication. With consistent monitoring, she managed her health, before her recent diagnosis of stage four metastatic breast cancer.
Surviving Job Cuts and Restructuring
Throughout this year, Michaela’s husband avoided reductions in force at the DOT. By May, nearly 2,800 employees had departed the department, due to the cuts as well as employees retiring and people quitting.
According to a internal document on its plan for reductions in force and restructuring, the agency estimated that by December 31, 2025, its workforce would be reduced by one-fifth from levels at the start of the year.
This translates to over ten thousand fewer employees at the department. Federal employee cuts have exceeded goals, with a significant number of workers leaving the federal government and a small number of new hires.
"We were worried about RIFs. We understand based on the way this administration functions, that this remains a constant threat because they ignore established rules," she elaborated.
She noted that specialized positions at the agency are hard to come by and contractors often want to pay reduced wages.
Enduring a Government Shutdown
As the Department of Transportation was shedding employees, on October 1st a shutdown of the U.S. government began, lasting for 43 days, the most protracted in American history.
The couple marked their 18th anniversary in the fall, during the ongoing closure, but remained home because finances prevented them to go out to eat due to her husband not being paid for multiple weeks.
She is thankful the government shutdown concluded as she was worried about healthcare costs, but rues the increases in insurance premiums she and her husband have experienced, as well as for those who rely on healthcare through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
"I felt desperate. I felt impoverished. I felt flabbergasted, scared, and I observed my husband and on several occasions where he sat at his desk and he gazed out the window. He was getting depressed," she recounted.
A Personal Offense
"We are merely one example in a bucket of millions people who work so hard to get where they are, who attempt to do the correct thing, and the people who are setting policy are just ransacking and leading the government and viewing government employees like adversaries, that they are not citizens, and that they should be attacked. And I take personal offense to that," she said.
A Looming Threat
Her current concern is a potential approaching government shutdown on 30 January 2026, with the bulk of federal funds set to expire again absent a long-term deal.
"The continuing resolution comes up for a vote again on the 30th of January and I fear this is going to happen once more. We have endured multiple closures. This by far was the worst," she said. "I’m already battling a life-threatening illness, and I am uncertain what the future holds. I may survive for another year or two. I might live for 10 years."
