Nothing could have prepared Barack Obama for the emotions he would experience when his daughter Sasha was given a heartbreaking health prognosis as a baby, despite the fact that as the former President of the United States of America, he had seen his fair share of emotionally trying moments.
The politician’s children, Malia, 24, and Sasha, 21, who are now adults, are happy and healthy, and he and his wife, Michelle, are proud parents. Sasha’s diagnosis of meningitis, however, rocked Barack and Michelle‘s world when she was just three months old.
Obama disclosed the diagnosis while running for office in 2012, saying: “People ask me what was the worst moment in my life — they ask, well, what about during the debt limit issue and this, that, and the other thing. “When Sasha was three months old, she had meningitis. I still recall our trip to the hospital, when they had to do a spinal tap on her.”
“The physicians did a tremendous job,” the father of two children said, “but, truly, it was the nurses who were there with us when she had to receive a spinal tap and all sorts of things that were just bringing me to tears.” As Michelle stated in an interview with Rev. Al Sharpton, the excruciating moment will remain imprinted in her mind forever.
“She actually got meningitis, it turned out. They also had to do a spinal tap “Michelle acknowledged that if she hadn’t had access to health care, things may have turned out very differently.
“She turned out — obviously, as this story ends, she is fine, she’s healthy, and she’s a beautiful young lady, but if we hadn’t had insurance, 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 delayed acting, there’s no telling what the outcome would’ve been,” the mother said.
Thankfully, Sasha did fully recover, for which the well-known family is eternally grateful. She transferred from the University of Michigan to USC and now resides in Los Angeles with her elder sister Malia.