At the political circus that unfolded on the lawn of the North Florida Regional Medical Center Wednesday, Hope Kelly played the role of a clown who lost her smile a long time ago.
Amid the sign-waving and horn-honking, Kelly quietly sat in her chair, stoically holding a cardboard sign for the passing cars on Newberry Road to see.
Kelly was one of about 70 people - composed of the young and the old, the strong and weak, the sick and the healthy - who stood side by side to support health care reform and represent political organization MoveOn.
According to MoveOn spokesman Fred Pratt, who helped organize the demonstration, Wednesday's effort was one of more than 300 that took place across the country. Thousands gathered to say loud and clear: "We can't afford to wait."
For many, including Pratt, political activism is nothing new.
"I've been called everything in the book: communist, socialist, fascist," Pratt said, happily waving to traffic.
Since President Barack Obama presented his platform to Americans, the country has been bitterly divided over the question of whether the federal government should expand health care or let it lie.
For Kelly, there is no choice.
Her 52-year-old son, Christopher, a former volunteer firefighter in Key Largo, lies in a hospital bed in Miami. His body, she said, once strong and full of life, is ravaged by leukemia, a vicious disease that lays waste to blood, bone marrow and whatever else is in its path. Christopher and his family cannot pay for the $460,000 bone marrow transplant, an operation, Kelly believes, that might not arrive in time to save her son's life.
"I feel like I'm letting him down," said Kelly, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. "I can see him getting sicker and sicker right before my eyes."
The solution, according to Kelly and the others that surrounded her, is to offer a public option for health insurance, which would insure those who can't afford it.
They argue that programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, which are government-run and regulated, are not the horror stories that opponents have illustrated.
"I just want to make sure everyone in this country has what I've got," said Bob Hofer, who has private health insurance. "My Christian values say you don't stand by and see people get trounced; that's not right."
