On her twenty-second birthday, Leslie Boyd gave birth to her second son, Michael Danforth. He was born with a rare birth defect that left him vulnerable to colon cancer, and because of this, he was unable to buy health insurance. Without it, he had no access to the health care he needed.
Despite being an honors student, a community volunteer, and having a job, Michael was denied the care he needed, and after being diagnosed with stage III colon cancer, he was forced to leave his wife to get Medicaid. He waited 37 months to be approved for disability income, and died nine days before his first check arrived.
His journey led his mother to leave a lifelong journalism career and become an activist for health care access for everyone. She has spoken across North Carolina and in Washington, DC, in her quest for universal access to quality health care.