Michelle Morse, 22; sought to alter insurance law

Michelle Morse wasn't going to let anything stop her from achieving her goal of becoming an elementary school teacher -- not even 30 rounds of chemotherapy.

"She was very dedicated, and gave 100 percent all of the time. It was her calling," said her mother, AnnMarie.

Ms. Morse, a college student who lobbied the New Hampshire Legislature for a bill to require health insurance companies to cover her if she took a medical leave of absence, died Thursday of colon cancer at Elliot Hospital in Manchester, N.H. She was 22.

Ms. Morse was born in Stoneham and grew up in Manchester. She earned her bachelor's degree in childhood studies in May from Plymouth State University.

Elementary education was her passion. For two years while she was in high school she worked as a counselor at Camp Foster in Bedford, N.H.

''She was able to connect with children, and they connected with her," her mother said. ''She could portray herself with far more experience than she actually had. She was just a natural; it was something in her."

As part of her degree requirement, Ms. Morse worked as a student teacher for five months at Bakersville Elementary School in Manchester. While working there, she wore a chemotherapy pump attached to her hip.

''If she was told she could have chemotherapy the rest of her life and live, she would have done it," her mother said.

Ms. Morse was diagnosed with colon cancer while she was a junior at Plymouth State. Instead of leaving school to fight her illness, Ms. Morse stayed in school after her parents learned they would have to pay close to $1,100 a month more to keep their daughter's health insurance if she took a leave of absence. Her parents' health insurance policy required an adult child to attend college full time to be covered.

When she was forced to stay in school to keep her insurance coverage, Ms. Morse began to lobby the Legislature to change the law.

''She was tenacious," said Representative Sheila Francoeur, Republican of Hampton, N.H., and chairwoman of the House Commerce Committee.

House Bill 37 would require insurers to continue coverage of full-time college students age 18 and over for one year if a doctor certified that illness made it impossible for the student to continue school full time.

Francoeur said the bill is scheduled to be voted on in committee tomorrow. If the bill makes it out of committee, she expects it would be brought before the full House for a vote in early January.

In addition to her mother, Ms. Morse leaves her father, Glen; a brother, Michael; and her grandparents, Allen of Stoneham and Cosimo and Beverly Paonessa of Atkinson, N.H.

A funeral Mass will be said Thursday at 10 a.m. in St. Pius X Church in Manchester. Burial will be in Mount Calvary Cemetery & Mausoleum in Manchester.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.