Katie McDill Studdard isn’t exactly sure the time or circumstance, but as a teen she recalls her mom, in a moment of mild exasperation, turning to her and saying, “Everything has to be the hard way with you, doesn’t it?”
If mom had only known.
“It’s true,” Katie said, laughing at the memory of that exchange. “I have to fight for just about everything.”
That is especially true for the past eight years, beginning with her husband Chris McDill’s brain cancer diagnosis and a tenacious five-year fight against a cancer that was supposed to claim his life within a year, an in vitro pregnancy that required Katie to endure three uterine surgeries and a decision to have a child after her husband’s death.
“I had to fight the insurance companies for every one of the treatments that kept Chris alive and now I’m fighting for my daughter’s future. I’ll keep fighting. I won’t quit.”
Elyse Lynn McDill was born July 2, 2018, five years to the day of Chris’ cancer diagnosis and 29 months after he passed away at age 33. In keeping with the narrative, Elyse came the hard way — by an emergency C-section.
Since 1978, when the first “test tube baby” was born, Elyse is now one of approximately eight million babies born through in vitro fertilization, a process where the mother’s embryo is fertilized outside the womb then implanted in the uterus.
Today, Elyse is a happy, healthy 3-year-old, but Katie’s fight continues — this time for Social Security survivor benefits Katie said will secure Elyse’s future.
It is a fight that will continue in January, when the Mississippi Legislature begins its 2022 session.
A child of their own
“I always knew I wanted to be a mom,” Katie said. “From the time Chris and I were married in 2008, we wanted a child.”
Katie knew she had medical conditions that would make conventional pregnancy impossible, but the couple never wavered, even after Chris was diagnosed with cancer in 2013.
Two years later they began the in vitro process, only to learn that Katie had a rare condition that would require multiple uterine surgeries in order to carry a child.
After the second of those surgeries Chris’ condition took a turn for the worse, and the couple talked about whether to proceed with an in vitro pregnancy after his death.
“He wanted me to continue if he died before the baby came,” Katie said.
The fertilized egg was implanted into Katie’s uterus in October 2017, and Elyse was born 39 weeks later.
A new fight emerged a few months later.
“I went to get Elyse’s Social Security card and when I was there, I was told there wouldn’t be any issues getting Chris’ death benefits,” Katie said.
Those benefits included $1,100 per month for Elyse as survivor benefits until her 18th birthday and $1,100 per month for Katie as caregiver benefits until Elyse turned 16.
A few months later, Katie was notified that those benefits had been denied.
Fight continues in Mississippi Legislature
Social Security benefits are administered at the state level and even though in vitro births have been around for more than 40 years, many states have not updated state code to allow for children born more than nine months after a parent’s death to receive those benefits.
In 2012, a Florida woman whose child was born in vitro 18 months after the death of the father appealed a lower court decision that denied those benefits to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling, saying that the decision on whether to provide benefits was up to the individual states. To date, 13 states have updated their state code to allow for those benefits. Mississippi has not, at least not yet.
After consulting an attorney, Katie approached Dana McLean in 2019 shortly after McLean had been elected to the state House of Representatives.
“After Katie told me her story, I started looking into what could be done,” McLean said. “I filed a bill in the 2020 session. It was one of the first bills I submitted.”
The bill was assigned to the House Judiciary A Committee but was never brought to the floor.
“That was the COVID session, if you’ll remember,” McLean said. “I don’t think it was a matter of it being opposed. That year, a lot of bills just weren’t taken up because of the COVID situation. I think describing it as being lost in the shuffle would be a pretty good way to put it.”
McLean refiled the bill in January, but again it didn’t advance out of committee.
“I’d call it a technical issue,” McLean said. “It involved notice to other potential heirs. Again, I don’t think there was opposition to it, as much as a concern about some of the technical aspects of the bill.”
McLean said those issues have been resolved. She’s talked to Rep. Angela Cockerham, the committee chair, as well as Speaker of the House Philip Gunn, and both are supportive, she said.
“Since I’ve been here, I’ve heard that the third time’s the charm,” McLean said. “That happened with another bill I sponsored that was finally passed after it was presented three times. I think that will be the case with this bill, too. I certainly hope so.”
Katie says the benefits will help fulfill the plans she and Chris put together all those years ago.
“We had plans for Elyse,” Katie said. “I grew up in a Catholic home and I always wanted my child to have a Catholic school education and, of course, college. That was our plan. It’s still our plan. It was the plan before Chris died and it’s the plan now, but it relies on those benefits. We aren’t wealthy people. Daycare, Catholic school, college….They are expensive.”
Two journeys intersect
The journeys of life are not always linear.
That’s certainly true for Katie and Elyse.
On Nov. 20, Katie married Erik Studdard, a long-time friend of Chris and Katie.
“I never expected to get married again,” Katie said. “But here we are five years later and I know this is a new journey, not just for me, but for Elyse, too. Chris is her biological father. His name is on her birth certificate. She will always know about Chris, always see his pictures. He’s always going to be a part of her life.
“But Erik is her father, the only dad she’s ever known. It was a natural thing for us. I knew, given my age, that my opportunity to have a child was limited. I didn’t want to give up the opportunity to be a mom. I wanted to finish the journey Chris and I started and Elyse continues that journey, even as Erik and I and Elyse start our own journey.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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