Barack Obama has seen a lot of difficult moments in his time as the former US President, but nothing could have prepared him for the feelings he would experience upon learning of his daughter Sasha’s devastating medical diagnosis at birth.
But when Sasha was stricken with meningitis at the age of three months, Barack and Michelle’s world fell apart.
“People ask me what was the hardest time in my life — they ask, well what about during the debt ceiling debate and this and that and the other thing.” Barack disclosed the diagnosis while out on the 2012 campaign trail.
“Sasha got meningitis when she was three months old. I still remember going to the hospital together and they had to give her a spinal tap.”
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In an interview with Rev. Al Sharpton, Michelle revealed that the excruciating period will also live on in her memory forever.
“I will never forget. It was a day when, you know, one hour she was fine, she was normal, she was happy, doing everything I was used to her doing and the next hour she was crying inconsolably, and that just wasn’t like her. And I did everything.”
She continued: “I tried to do – tried to feed her, tried to rock her, tried to burp her. Finally, I just thought, I need to call my pediatrician.”
The medical personnel demanded they head straight to the emergency department when she recounted Sasha’s symptoms.
“As it turned out, she had meningitis. And they had to do a spinal tap,” Michelle recalled, acknowledging that the situation might have turned out very differently if she had not had access to medical treatment.
“She turned out – obviously, as this story ends, she is fine, she’s healthy, she’s a beautiful young lady, but if we hadn’t had insurance, and access to a pediatrician, and access to a hospital where we didn’t have to worry about the cost of care.
“If we had waited overnight, if we had postponed acting, there’s no telling what the outcome would’ve been.”
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Thankfully, Sasha recovered completely, for which the well-known family is eternally thankful.
She and her older sister Malia reside in Los Angeles, where they are both thriving professionally and giving their parents great pride.