Christine Jameson fought back tears at the State Senate Tuesday as she recounted the death of her husband Kyle, 33, a Hampton firefighter. Her devastating loss was compounded by massive bills she didn’t know how she could pay.
She shared her story with the Senate Finance Committee in support of a bill that would prevent other firefighters’ families from having to go through the same ordeal.
“Every morning when I wake up, I’m faced with the reality that my partner and the love of my life is never coming back, and that these emotional and financial challenges are for me to face without him,” she told the senators through her tears.
The Jamesons were forced to move to New York City when Kyle received treatment for T Cell prolymphocytic leukemia in early 2016, his cancer believed by medical professionals to be work-related. Still, the family went unaided by worker’s compensation benefits promised in state law to firefighters diagnosed with cancer.