During the spring of 2025, Michaela experienced a sudden, stabbing ache shoot from her hip while she bent over to tend to her garden. Then she fell over and was unable to rise.
Her husband summoned emergency services and she spent the night in a hospital, where, in her late fifties, she found out she had a tumor on her spine. The diagnosis was metastatic breast cancer.
"I had no warning this would occur, and I was devastated. At first, I wasn't fully aware that it was part of my breast cancer which had spread to my spine, which I learned is common for it to go," she said.
"Should I pass away early, I cannot bear the thought of leaving [my husband] here. We have little family. We are without children of our own."
When Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Michaela’s husband braced to be mandated back into the office at the DOT in Washington DC. He had worked remotely since the onset of the global pandemic, from their home outside Baltimore.
On Trump’s first day in office in January, he issued requiring all federal agencies end all telework arrangements. The office of personnel management directed agencies to enact the order despite collective bargaining contracts.
"My spouse is a long-time employee in government service, and he’s an expert in his field. He’s been doing this for two decades now, so it is draining for him. We’re in our 50s. He departed the house at five o’clock in the morning and returning at seven at night," she stated. Her real name is withheld as her husband still works at the agency and fears reprisal.
In July, she underwent an operation, a laminectomy. Shortly following that, she had targeted radiation therapy, and is now taking an cancer treatment called Kisqali alongside hormone therapy.
She was previously diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in 2014, but was able to treat it, as it was caught early, with a partial lumpectomy, radiation, chemotherapy and hormonal medication. With consistent monitoring, she stayed on top of it, prior to her recent diagnosis of advanced metastatic breast cancer.
Navigating Reductions in Force and Reorganization
Throughout this year, Michaela’s husband avoided reductions in force at the Department of Transportation. By May, nearly 2,800 employees had left the agency, due to those reductions as well as employees retiring and people quitting.
Per a memo on its plan for staff reductions and restructuring, the agency estimated that by the end of next year, its workforce would be reduced by one-fifth from earlier levels.
This translates to over ten thousand reduced staff at the department. Federal employee cuts have exceeded goals, with a significant number of workers leaving the government and a small number of replacements.
"We were concerned about layoffs. It is clear given the way this administration functions, that this remains a constant threat because policies disregard the law," she elaborated.
She added that jobs for specializations at the agency are difficult to find and contractors often want to pay lower salaries.
Facing a Federal Closure
While the DOT was losing staff, on 1 October a closure of the federal government began, lasting for 43 days, the most protracted in US history.
Michaela and her husband marked their 18th wedding anniversary in early November, during the ongoing closure, but stayed at home because they couldn’t afford to dine out due to her husband not being paid for multiple weeks.
She is thankful the government shutdown ended as she was worried about healthcare costs, but rues the increases in healthcare premiums she and her husband have experienced, and for those who rely on insurance through the ACA exchanges.
"I felt desperate. I felt destitute. I felt flabbergasted, scared, and I observed my husband and on several occasions where he was sitting at his desk and he gazed out the window. He was becoming despondent," she said.
A Personal Offense
"We are merely one example in a ocean of millions people who strive diligently to achieve their positions, who try to do the right thing, and those who are making all the decisions are just ransacking and leading the government and treating government employees like adversaries, that they are lesser citizens, and that they deserve targeting. And I take personal offense to that," she expressed.
A Looming Threat
She is now worried is a potential 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 fear this will repeat all over again. We’ve been through multiple closures. This by far was the worst," she said. "I’m already battling a serious disease, and I am uncertain where it’s going to take me. I may survive for another year or two. I could be here for a decade."
