Thelma Hern, 63, was dying from several forms of cancer -- until her doctor recently told her she's now cancer-free.

"I wasn't even going to answer the phone for some reason, and I said, you better answer that phone, and I answered that phone and he said Thelma, you are cancer-free. All you have are a few nodules on your lung, and that's not cancer. I'll see you in three or four months," she said.

She originally was given a couple of months to live. That was seven years ago. Today, she suffers from other ailments that keep her on 18 different medications, but she's happy.

"Oh my goodness! I jumped up and down and called everybody!" Hern laughed as she recounts her reaction to her doctor's call.

The cost, however, is huge. Medicaid covered many of her treatments, but her caregiver said it had to reach a critical point before help kicked in.

"By the time she went into the hospital, and they found all these things that were wrong with her, she was pretty much almost at death's door before she got any help or any treatment and was put on Medicaid," said Melanie Kelly, a caregiver with Kanawha Home Health Inc.

Kelly can't afford health insurance herself, but sees first-hand what lack of health coverage can do.

"It can make a difference whether most people live or die or survive," said Kelly.

Thelma is one of the survivors. And she plans to stay that way.

"I have wanted to give up. I admit it. But through faith and all that I told you, I'm not giving up," said Hern.