Summary: Year after year, Patti Medina answered the phone at the Oakland unemployment office. She filled out forms for strangers laid off from work. Helping strangers was her job. She never figured she’d be the next person needing a stranger’s help. Until she was. In April, Medina’s 10-year-old daughter, A.F., came back from a school camping trip complaining of being tired. She was short of breath. She needed to lie down, and she wouldn’t get up. Something was wrong.
