CHROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — The Cherokee County woman who founded a group to help tens of thousands of Georgia teachers get access to better health insurance is now battling her own health issues that she says could have been prevented.
Channel 2’s Lori Geary talked to Ashley Cline who started the group "Teachers Rally Against Georgia Insurance Changes," or T.R.A.G.I.C.
After 10 months of tests, doctors and specialists, Cline has learned she is battling Lyme disease.
“I told my husband, ‘I’d rather be in childbirth for a year straight, literally, than what I just went through,” Cline told Geary.
The mother of two girls says that’s how bad her pain got when her Lyme disease went undiagnosed for almost a year, even though her tests showed she tested positive for the disease.
She says her doctor told her that wasn’t possible. Cline says she took her doctor’s word for it.
Cline kept her health issues private because she was in the midst of helping tens of thousands of Georgia teachers and state employees obtain better health benefits by found T.R.A.G.I.C.
T.R.A.G.I.C is a group of more than 16,000 educators that forced lawmakers to offer more health benefit options to state employees.
Back at home, Cline was experiencing excruciating pain. She underwent exploratory surgery, saw 40 different doctors and specialists, got 12 scans and after eight trips to the emergency room before she finally got the diagnosis.
She’s telling her story for the first time on TV in the hope of once again, helping others.
“There’s so many people in Georgia that have it. They’re going through it, they’re looking for a diagnosis or they have one and doctors don’t take it seriously,” Cline added.
At the age of 32, Cline is now on disability. She must take antibiotic drugs twice daily, but has hit a stumbling block with her private insurance.
She needs more than a year’s worth of the antibiotics, but her insurance company told her it will only pay for 28 days.
“Twenty-eight days is up next week. The last time I went off of antibiotics I was hospitalized within 48 hours so, I’m terrified.”
The T.R.A.G.I.C. group has now formed a fundraising page to raise money to pay for Cline's medical bills.
So far, members have raised more than $11,000.
WSBTV
