In early May 2025, Michaela experienced a sudden, stabbing ache shoot from her hip while she bent over to water some plants. Then she fell over and couldn’t get back up.
Her husband called an ambulance and she was admitted in a hospital, where, in her late fifties, she found out she had a mass on her spine. The diagnosis was metastatic breast cancer.
"I had no warning this would occur, and I was heartbroken. 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.
"Should I pass away early, I could not imagine leaving [my husband] here. We have any family. We are without children of our own."
When Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Michaela’s husband prepared to be forced back into the office at the Department of Transportation in Washington DC. He had been teleworking since the onset of the global pandemic, from their residence outside Baltimore.
On the inaugural day in office in January, he issued requiring all federal agencies terminate all remote work arrangements. Federal personnel officials instructed agencies to enact the order irrespective of collective bargaining contracts.
"My spouse is a long-time employee with the administration, 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 are in our fifties. He was leaving the house at five o’clock in the morning and getting home at 7 p.m. at night," Michaela said. Her real name is withheld as her husband remains employed at the Department of Transportation and fears retaliation.
During the summer, she underwent an operation, a laminectomy. A few weeks after that, she had targeted radiation therapy, and is now taking an cancer treatment called Kisqali alongside hormone therapy.
She was previously diagnosed with stage one breast cancer in 2014, but was able to treat it, due to early detection, with a partial lumpectomy, radiation, chemotherapy and hormonal medication. With consistent monitoring, she managed her health, before her latest diagnosis of advanced metastatic breast cancer.
Navigating Job Cuts and Restructuring
Over the past year, Michaela’s husband avoided layoffs at the Department of Transportation. By May, thousands of employees had left the agency, due to the cuts as well as employees retiring and voluntary resignations.
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 of Transportation. Federal employee cuts have surpassed targets, with a significant number of workers exiting the government and only a fraction of replacements.
"We were concerned about layoffs. It is clear based on the way things are operating, that this is always on the table because policies disregard established rules," she elaborated.
She added that jobs for specializations at the agency are difficult to find and private firms often want to pay reduced wages.
Enduring a Government Shutdown
While the DOT was losing staff, on 1 October a shutdown of the federal government began, lasting for 43 days, the most protracted in US history.
Michaela and her husband celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary in the fall, while the shutdown continued, but remained home because finances prevented them to go out to eat due to her husband not being paid for several weeks.
She is thankful the federal closure ended as she was worried about medical bills, but rues the rising costs in insurance premiums she and her husband have experienced, and for those who rely on healthcare through the ACA exchanges.
"I felt desperate. I felt destitute. I felt flabbergasted, scared, and I watched 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 recounted.
A Personal Offense
"We are merely one example in a ocean of countless people who strive diligently to achieve their positions, who attempt to do the correct thing, and those who are setting policy are seemingly dismantling and managing the government and treating federal workers like adversaries, that they are lesser citizens, and that they deserve targeting. And I take personal offense to that," she said.
Future Uncertainty
She is now worried is another possible looming federal closure on 30 January 2026, with the bulk of federal funds set to lapse again absent a permanent agreement.
"The continuing resolution comes up for a vote 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 said. "I am already fighting a life-threatening illness, and I don’t know what the future holds. I could be here for a couple more years. I might live for a decade."
