HOUSTON – For Lori Newman, travel disruptions caused by the ongoing government shutdown are more than just an inconvenience, it could mean the difference between life and death.
Newman, who moved to Tomball in 2018 and whose husband still lives there until he retires, moved to Tennessee earlier this year to spend her final days surrounded by family. But her fight with metastatic terminal breast cancer, a late-stage form of the disease that has spread to her spine, means she must return to Houston regularly for treatment and scans at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
“MD Anderson is one of the best in the world,” Newman said. “People come from all over the country, not just the states here. I’m just one person, so there’s got to be a lot of other people who are crying right now.”
Diagnosed in 2018 shortly after moving to Houston, Newman initially went into remission before the cancer returned and spread. (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
Diagnosed in 2018 shortly after moving to Houston, Newman initially went into remission before the cancer returned and spread. It has since attacked her spine, eating away at her lower vertebrae. Standing for long periods is painful and nearly impossible.
“My cancer is in my spine. It ate out my L4, my L5 and S1,” she said. “I can still walk, but I can’t stand for that long.”
That’s why long TSA lines at the airport have become a source of deep anxiety. Newman can’t drive the 12 to 14 hours from Tennessee to Houston either. Her next scan at MD Anderson is scheduled for next week and missing it could have devastating consequences.
“I might be terminal, but I’m living with it,” Newman said. “If I miss these scans, it could change everything by just one or two days.”
The FAA recently announced flight reductions nationwide due to the shutdown, including at both Hobby and Bush Intercontinental airports. For Newman, the political gridlock feels personal.
“I’ve already been fighting for so long,” she said. “I can’t imagine losing it because people can’t decide.”
“It’s people’s lives,” she added. “I would never have come to be with my family knowing that this would have happened.”
Newman fears rescheduling her scans because she believes each treatment means more time she can spend with her family.
“Every day is a struggle,” she said. “I’m losing a lot of weight, which scares me. I’m not going to see my team, they have a brain MRI for me when I get there because I’m having trouble speaking and writing.”
As she waits to see whether she’ll make her next appointment, Newman is thinking not only about herself, but about the many other patients caught in the same uncertainty.
“People don’t just fly for vacations,” she said. “They’re flying for funerals, for losing family members, and people who have cancer that need to get to the best place in the world, which is MD Anderson, in my books.”
For Newman, every day and every scan counts.
Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.