KMPH Fox 26 Central San Joaquin Valley News Source in Fresno, California Entertainment, News, Sports and Weather | For Fresno Couple, Budget Cuts Hit Close to Home

For Fresno Couple, Budget Cuts Hit Close to Home

By: Ashley Ritchie

Dinnertime comes again at the home of Carlos and Mikesha Martinez.

Just two years ago, life was much different.

"She was going to school for physical therapy. She used to work at Gottschalks. She used to be the girl who put the displays in the windows and everything," Carlos said.

At the age of 28, Mikesha fell into a diabetic coma.

His wife facing death, Carlos quit his job; put his studies as a doctoral candidate on hold and became a full-time in-home care provider for the woman he'd married nine years earlier.

"I say to myself, I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, because I'm her father. I'm her brother. I'm her mommy. I'm everything," he said.

But the 24-hour a day, seven-day a week job became too much for Carlos, who through his union found three more providers who help him with the mounting responsibilities.

"Sometimes I would eat once a day. And sometimes I would forget that I had to go to the restroom myself," Carlos said.

Every day, patience is tested with monotonous tasks and multiplying medications.

Mikesha is one of many whose life could change with the Governor's proposed cuts to health care, which would cut providers wages, forcing many to find other jobs.

"I know the consequences of those cuts are not just dollars.  I see the faces behind those dollars," Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said to lawmakers Tuesday.  

In the meantime, the hours pass.

After dinner, there's a little dancing, and then off to bed to do it all over again tomorrow.

"Then when she goes to sleep and she's snoring, I say wow, I made it today," Carlos said, fighting back tears.

For Carlos and Mikesha, life might not ever be like it was.

But at least for now, they've got dinner and they've got dancing.

A lawsuit against the State has been filed on behalf of Carlos' wife and others who could lose their providers.

They say the cuts violate not only Medicaid laws, but they'd force people to live in institutions that would otherwise be able to stay in their homes.

The injunction is expected to be filed within the next several days.