“We are going to be watching your boy,” Mr. Trump told Melissa Young, the former Miss Wisconsin who competed in the 2005 Miss USA Pageant. She showed up at one of Mr. Trump’s rallies some months ago to thank him for the kindness he had shown her and his encouragement that ultimately helped her through a very difficult time two years ago. Melissa is once again going through a very difficult time, and her support for Mr. Trump has made her struggle even more trying. Ms. Young is losing her battle with autonomic failure, a condition that has led to the breakdown of her nervous system. She has been told she has the heart of a 90-year-old woman and there is no cure. She is dying. I first met Melissa, when she was a guest on my radio show, “Rose Unplugged.” It was clear to me, after that brief meeting, why she was voted “Miss Congeniality” in the 2005 Miss USA Pageant. Meeting her has afforded me one of those rare moments: recognizing you have met someone who makes you feel you’ve known them a lifetime. What I find absolutely difficult to accept is that she won’t have a very long lifetime to share with those of us who love her. She and I became closer friends over the summer. I was able to obtain a ticket for her to attend the Victory Party at the Hilton Midtown on election night. The two of us were joined that night by another friend, Lauren, associate producer of Sean Hannity’s radio show. We sat up until 5:30 that morning celebrating Mr. Trump’s victory and laughing like three women who had many years ahead of good times and celebrations. For a spell, the reality of life and death was mercifully obscured by our euphoria. The reality is, one of us is having those years rapidly stolen by the cruel hand of a disease most people have never heard of. Rising just barely above the loud voices of the protesters is Melissa Young’s whisper, “Stop the madness — please!” Whisper is no exaggeration; she can barely manage that much these days. Her message, however, is strong. “I’m n...
No hoodwinking or hornswoggling here.
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