Iowa State Senator Catelin Drey announced during Monday’s legislative session she has been diagnosed with uterine cancer.
Drey said she was diagnosed in early December and said she plans to get a hysterectomy Tuesday.
She said she expects to be back at the legislature as soon as she is able and isn’t going to let a 3-week non-driving period stop her. Drey mentioned that her mother is going to help her drive back to Des Moines during that time.
She said the diagnosis is not a resignation or retreat. It is a medical interruption. She intends to move through it and get back to work.
“I do want to talk about why I am being fully transparent about this, from diagnosis to treatment to side effects to costs. The irony of being elected because my predecessor passed away from this horrible disease is not lost on me. Ignoring the environment that Senator Dewitt and I shared is a disservice to our constituents,” said Drey.
She had mentioned how her nurse told her after the ACA subsidies expired, her sister's premium went from $500 for two adults to $2750 per month while going under cancer treatment.
“We live in Iowa, unfortunately the cancer capital of the country, yet we continue to tolerate policies that make early detection harder, treatment more expensive, and recovery more precarious. We moralize illness, we nickel and dime care, and then act shocked when outcomes are worse,” she said.
Drey said her first priority after beating cancer is to take care of her constituents in district one. Drey was elected to the state senate in a special election held in August.
