My son, Tobias, was born on May 8, 2008. He was very small at birth, only 5lbs 4oz at 38 weeks gestation, which is unusually small for a "normal" baby. He was very cute upon entering the world with his quiet voice crying out.

As with any normal birth, we spent a couple of days in the hospital. I was a first-time mother, but I have always had the mother’s instinct. I knew babies were supposed to have a bowel movement within their first 24 hours after birth, most have them very soon after birth. Tobias didn't have a bowel movement and I was concerned. He was also vomiting every time I tried to nurse him, and the nurses force-fed him formula thinking it was a latch issue. The nurses tried stimulating a bowel movement with a thermometer. That didn't help, even though it usually works. I grew more and more concerned.

Finally, 36 hours after his birth, an x-ray tech got an image of his belly. By the time anyone looked at the results, Toby was about 48 hours old and still hadn't been able to keep any formula or breast milk down, and still hadn’t had a bowel movement. Once the doctors saw the x-ray, they noticed a blockage in Toby’s belly and immediately took him down to NICU. It was a Level III NICU, but they didn't have a surgeon on hand.

While our newborn baby was hooked up to all sorts of wires and a tube down his nose to his belly, the pediatrician in the NICU said that they would have to fly him down to Miami Children's Hospital, which is about 85 miles from where we live. I was distraught. We had no idea what was wrong with our baby.

He had to have surgery to have part of his bowel plus the blockage removed at just two days old. MCH is an awesome hospital and I did not regret for one second that he was that far away, even though gas was $4 per gallon and we didn't have a place to stay locally. In order to see our son, we had to drive to and from Miami daily. He spent 26 days in the NICU there.

During his stay, we received a phone call from the local Cystic Fibrosis clinic, and they mentioned that Toby's newborn screening was suspicious for CF and that they wanted to conduct further tests – a sweat test -- to confirm the results. Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a chronic disease that causes the body to produce thick and sticky mucus that can clog the lungs and lead to life-threatening lung infections, and keep the body from breaking down and absorbing food. There are 30,000 children and adults in the United States who live with the disease, which is fatal without treatment.

Between the surgery to remove the blockage in his stomach and testing and treatment for CF, the medical bills for Toby's first year of life tallied to well over $250,000. Thankfully, Medicaid covered most of his bills. Neither my nor his father’s medical insurance would cover even half of the costs for his surgeries and treatments. And there are so many families like ours in the country. Medicaid, a government-run healthcare program, pays for essential healthcare services for nearly 60 million low-income Americans, almost half of them children.

Thanks to Medicaid and the wonderful care he received from his doctors, Toby is like any other happy, healthy, normal three-year-old kid, living with CF. He goes for regular wellness visits like other kids his age, but as part of his ongoing treatment for CF he visits a CF clinic 3 to 5 times a year. He also sees a gastroenterologist as he has a permanent g-tube in his stomach because he needs the extra calories. He takes a medication for wheezing, albuterol, through a nebulizer 1 to 5 times per day (depending on how his breathing sounds), and he also has a "Vest" that helps loosen the mucus in his lungs. He takes special vitamins daily along with pancreatic enzymes with every meal, snack and anything that he consumes, as he doesn't absorb nutrition like the rest of us do.

His enzymes, vitamins, albuterol, and enteral nutrition bags and other supplies would cost us around $2,500 per month or more without insurance. Without Medicaid, our co-pays would run about $400, including doctors’ visits, medicines and medical supplies.

The risks of him being in daycare were too great so I opted to stay home with him and give up my job. Either way, my income wouldn't begin to cover the cost of insurance, co-pays and day care. Plus, if he got sick and needed to be admitted to the hospital, I wouldn't be able to be by his side. Some people look down on my decision, but for my son and his health it was the best that I could do.

If it weren't for Medicaid, my family would be homeless, bankrupt and Toby would possibly be... dead. If Toby had not gotten that surgery at two days old, his body could have become toxic to itself. If Toby had never gotten his g-tube, he would not have received the necessary nutrition to keep his lungs in good shape.

I would not be a mother today if it weren’t for Medicaid. I am not ashamed of having to be on public assistance if it means having the gift that is my son. For those families who need Medicaid like mine did – and there are millions of us! -- they shouldn’t be made to feel ashamed either.

Lisa is a MomsRising.org member who lives in Florida.

Click here to read selected stories from more MomsRising members about how they've been helped by Medicaid.