MUSCATINE, Iowa — After more than a year of discouraging news, Sara and Kurt Guhn dared to get their hopes up — only to have them dashed again Monday.

Kurt, 54, worked 3 1/2 years at Grain Processing Corp. in Muscatine as an electrician before the company and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 86D failed to reach a contract agreement last month. A counter-proposal made by the union was rejected Monday by GPC.

Since the company locked out 360 employees on Aug. 22, the Guhns have fought Sara’s stage-three breast cancer and related health issues with their dwindling resources and without medical insurance.

“I would like to go back to work but there are unfair matters in our contract that need resolved,” Kurt said Tuesday.

The Guhns have been on the picket line almost daily. Their story is only one of the hundreds among GPC families who are receiving unemployment, which equals about a third of their income, and who have no insurance.

“Unlike some people, we don’t have a savings to fall back on. We used all of our money to care for Sara because she was ill,” Kurt said.

Sara was diagnosed with breast cancer on Aug. 1, 2007. She immediately had surgery to remove five lymph nodes in her left breast. Two weeks later she had to have all of the lymph nodes and some tissue removed from the same breast.

One week after that she went under the knife again to stop the growth of a severe flesh-eating infection. Hours after that surgery, Sara suffered a stroke, and then a second stroke days later. Five days after the surgery for the infection, doctors discovered it didn’t work completely. They had to remove the skin from the left side of her torso and replace it with skin grafts.

Doctors told the family she might not survive, but she did.

The pain, illness and suffering didn’t stop there. Sara was diagnosed with diabetes, endured long hospital stays, another stroke, a second skin graft and chemotherapy. On top of it all, she  has to receive units of blood about every two weeks to keep her hemoglobin counts up. To this day, she is weak and has trouble walking.

“She’s a walking miracle. It wouldn’t have been possible without insurance,” Kurt said.

Sara takes 12 different medications a day and her latest prescription is running out. She’s had to visit doctors even though she doesn’t have insurance coverage, already racking up bills into the hundreds of dollars. Kurt said the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) insurance would cost him about $600 per month and it’s not affordable. The couple has an appointment with the Iowa Department of Human Services later this week to find out if Sara can get state aid. Sara had to quit her job as a Realtor when she was diagnosed.

The Guhns are worried. They have a son in the military and a teenage daughter at home.

“She wanted a dress for homecoming but she is so sensitive to our situation she was afraid to pay the $60 to buy the one she wanted. She asked if I thought she should get the cheaper one,” Kurt said, as he wiped tears from his eyes.

“After she got it she called crying, saying that she was sorry to be upsetting our household by spending too much on a dress.”

The Guhns said their daughter is a great student and a good person and they don’t want to see her suffer and not get a dress for the special occasion.

“She’s 14 and she told her dad that she was going to get a job now to help out. She looks really good in that dress,” Sara said.

No one knows how long it might be until another proposal is laid on the table. Local 86D leaders are working to answer questions the members have about a contract proposal the company rejected Monday. Union leaders will meet with the membership at regularly scheduled meetings at 4 and 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Kurt is ready to go back to work but knows that he won’t be working at GPC anytime soon and hopes to find another job before long. He’s had interviews but believes other companies won’t hire him for fear that he would leave when GPC allows workers to return

“I love what I do. I like my job because I don’t do the same thing every day. I wish I could do it again,” Kurt said.

 Janet Sichterman, vice president of human resources and communications at Muscatine Foods Corp., which is the parent company for GPC, said this morning that the union is in the position to take the next step toward a contract agreement.

“They can still vote and ratify that last, best and final contract. So, at this point it is up to union members to end the lockout,” Sichterman said.

She added that many families that are locked out are struggling because of the lack of insurance, but that it’s the rules of the union and the company.

“Our hearts go out to Sara, which is why we provide COBRA,” Sichterman said, adding that for Sara alone, COBRA insurance would cost $490 for September. For the entire Guhn family, COBRA would cost about $850.

Working employees pay $340 a month for family insurance. The locked out members are receiving unemployment and can get those benefits for 26 weeks, Sichterman said. 

Reporter contact information

Melissa Regennitter 563-262-0526

mregennitter@muscatinejournal.com