Mary Anne Leonard used to run and chase with her students all of the time. In a freak accident, her head hit a playground pole.
“At first, I was in denial,” she said. “I was like, ‘Well,’ — because I used to play football with my brothers and stuff, and got the wind knocked out of me — so I thought, ‘Well, this is no big deal, got a goose egg.”
She went to the nurse when she began experiencing symptoms. After about a year, she realized migraines that made it difficult for her to function left her disabled. She also had trouble seeing due to a warped left cornea.
Leonard didn’t take out disability insurance because she never expected to be hurt while working. Leonard had medical bills coming in.
Her bills piled up, and her husband had to go into early retirement to be her caregiver. She’s walking with a cane, has two sets of glasses and is on several medications. Her son is helping them financially, but they make too much money for food stamps.