CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A Charlotte wife and mother who credits her surviving a brain tumor to President Barack Obama's health insurance overhaul law gets a front row seat for the State of the Union address.
The White House says Astrid Muhammad will be seated Tuesday near First Lady Michelle Obama during the president's big speech to Congress. Muhammad wrote to Obama to thank him for making it possible for her to buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
The 39-year-old was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May 2013 but didn't have health insurance. She bought a policy last year because the law banned insurance companies from refusing treatment for her pre-existing condition.
Muhammad had surgery in August to remove the tumor her neurosurgeon said would have killed her in two years.