I am joining the march to give voice to my belief that all of us are welcome to be called ‘real Americans’. No one should ever feel fear because they are female, black, brown, a person with a disability or without financial means, their held religion or who they love.  I am 63 year old white American women who was diagnosed in 2012 with lung cancer and have ridden the rails of the health care system in America.  Today I am on oxygen 24/7 but I still work toward better physical health and never give up and I want my children, and all of my family and friends to be surrounded by people and values that elevate inclusiveness, love, and outreach.  I believe that the edicts of Donald J. Trump are not the America I was brought up to believe e in in the blue collar working class home in Indiana where I first became familiar with the ideals of the United States of America.

I am April Brewster Smythe ( April Langschied).  As a writer, mother, grandmother, small business owner, and cancer survivor, I have lived many lives in one.  Born in the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1953 I bounced into a world immersed in a Cold War and danced and argued through the 1960’s. Divorced, I found out early about the inherent bias of the criminal justice system.  Raising teenagers alone introduced me to the life of a single mother where money was always tight.  I had a degree in business administration and have been a lifetime learner, cresting at a degree in Public Affairs.  I have dealt with a brain tumor ( operation-2007) and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2012.  Today I struggle with the remnants of the treatments and the financial setbacks of a broken health care system.