NEWS

Madison cancer survivor gets surprise lift from Obama

Jill Cowan
jcowan@tennessean.com

When breast cancer survivor Kelly Bryant dashed off a quick note to President Barack Obama seven months ago thanking him for the Affordable Care Act, she never expected to hear from him — let alone have the leader of the free world show up on her doorstep.

But on a rainy morning this week, that's exactly what happened.

On his way to speak to a crowd that included health care industry executives, Insure Tennessee advocates and legislators at Madison's Taylor Stratton Elementary School on Wednesday, Obama's motorcade stopped at Bryant's home about a mile and a half away.

"I asked the Secret Service agent, 'Be honest with me, is this real?' " Bryant, a Nashville-area native, said after the event.

Bryant, 39, said she found out on Saturday that she'd been tapped to introduce the president at his third stop in the Nashville area since January 2014.

What she didn't know was that she would be getting a lift from Obama himself — something the president said during his talk may well be a first.

"It was so close to the school," Obama told the crowd. "Might as well swing by and get her."

President Barack Obama walks with Kelly Bryant at her home on the way to Taylor Stratton Elementary School in Madison on Wednesday, July 1, 2015, in Nashville.

Bryant said that — aside from the fact that Obama is, well, president of the United States — the visit seemed "just as natural as can be."

The president, she said, complimented her front yard. He asked her how she was doing and greeted her with a hug. When they walked from her door to the motorcade, he held out an umbrella.

Then, suddenly, they were en route to the elementary school.

Bryant said she sat "right next to" the president in the car and made "normal chit chat."

Obama sipped from a disposable cup, like one you'd get from Starbucks, Bryant said — only it was stamped with the presidential seal.

Bryant said she asked him what he was drinking — regular old tea with lemon and honey — and she told him she was more of a coffee drinker herself.

They also talked hockey: Bryant's 14-year-old son is a "huge Predators fan." But the Chicago Blackhawks are, of course, the president's team.

"He's such a friendly, laid-back guy," she said. "As soon as you get in his presence, you're comfortable."

At the event, Bryant said she spoke from the heart.

"I am so honored, truly, truly honored, to welcome him to our great city of Nashville, Tennessee," she said.

Throughout his speech, Obama emphasized the importance of people like Bryant, who reach out to friends, neighbors and, perhaps most importantly, legislators, telling stories about what access to health care means to them.

"When people write me letters, it reminds me of why I'm doing what I'm doing," Obama said during a question-and-answer session.

Bryant had told the crowd that she was able to afford insurance while she was between jobs and battling breast cancer for a second time.

"It was a comfort to me that I could concentrate on getting better without losing everything I had," she said.

Bryant told a scrum of reporters that she's doing well now. Wednesday's experience, she said, was amazing.

And it all started with a little bit of Southern hospitality, she said.

"I guess just being Southern, we're always taught to write thank-you notes," she said.

Though Bryant said later that she wasn't able to catch Obama before he left the school (his staff gave her a ride home), he left her with a signature on an invitation to his 2008 inauguration.

Bryant had traveled to Washington, D.C., for that, and she brought the invitation along on Wednesday in hopes the president would sign it.

And although she's since been deluged with texts and calls from friends saying they'd seen pictures of her walking with the president, Bryant said she refrained from selfie requests.

"It's like, for him to come and pick me up was a huge gesture on his part," she said. "I wanted to just kind of be in the moment."

Kelly Bryant tells her story and introduces President Barack Obama at Taylor Stratton Elementary School Cafetorium, in Nashville, Tenn. July 1, 2015.

Dave Boucher contributed to this report. Reach Jill Cowan at 615-664-2150 and on Twitter @jillcowan.