Cathy and David Bryant never planned on needing help from the state of Kansas. They had good jobs, a home, a savings account, medical insurance and two healthy kids.</p><p>&ldquo;We had everything in order and then it crashed,&rdquo; Cathy said recently, from the Lenexa apartment that her family has rented since medical bills forced them into bankruptcy and out of their house.</p><p>Their world fell apart the day before their daughter, Danielle, was to start kindergarten. The child suffered a seizure, then another. The seizures have continued to this day, impairing Danielle&rsquo;s ability to learn, socialize and even eat or shower without supervision.</p><p>If Cathy Bryant could have seen the future, back when it all began, she would have immediately placed Danielle&rsquo;s name on the list of developmentally disabled Kansas children seeking Medicaid funds to pay for the multitude of bills that their family&rsquo;s private insurance won&rsquo;t cover.</p><p>But those first awful months were consumed with keeping Danielle alive. Then they spent a couple of years trying to get a diagnosis, thinking if they knew exactly what was wrong they could make their girl better.</p><p>Only after Danielle was finally diagnosed with a malformed cerebral cortex &mdash; a rare and incurable condition &mdash; did her parents think to apply for state assistance. Danielle is now 14. She&rsquo;s been on a waiting list for about four years, along with thousands of other disabled Kansans. There is no relief in sight.</p><p>The problem is the disgraceful refusal by the state of Kansas to provide for its most vulnerable citizens.</p><p>More than 4,000 Kansans with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities are on waiting lists for everything from group home placements to respite care.</p><p>What Danielle&rsquo;s family needs &mdash; and what the state should have provided long before now &mdash; is a Medicaid card.</p><p>David Bryant works as a machinist. Before Cathy Bryant began living in a crisis, she had a career as a crisis counselor. Their family has always had employer-paid health insurance plans. </p><p>But Danielle&rsquo;s medications can cost as much as $4,000 a month, and at first the family&rsquo;s insurance didn&rsquo;t pay for drugs. Getting Danielle stabilized and diagnosed required multiple hospital stays and visits to specialists, all with hefty co-pays. Some of Danielle&rsquo;s treatments are deemed experimental by the insurance company and not eligible for reimbursement.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s just so much insurance won&rsquo;t pay for,&rdquo; Cathy Bryant said.</p><p>The Bryants first refinanced their home in Emporia, Kan., to pay for the mounting medical bills. But the continued expenses eventually overwhelmed them. When they filed for bankruptcy in 2005, they owed $500,000. Having lost their house, they moved to Johnson County. Some of Danielle&rsquo;s specialists were in the area, and David landed a job with generous health benefits. </p><p>Accompanied by her service dog, Peanut, Danielle attends classes at Trail Ridge Middle School. She can be loving and happy, especially with her parents and her older brother, Matt, but anxieties often overwhelm her, her mother said. </p><p>The seizures come continually, some too small to discern and others severe enough to cause full body convulsions.</p><p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s driven to learn, but she doesn&rsquo;t learn easily,&rdquo; her mother said. &ldquo;On some days you get a glimpse of who she really is. Other days she doesn&rsquo;t get out of bed.&rdquo;</p><p>For nine happy months last year, Danielle was granted a Medicaid waiver reserved for &ldquo;seriously emotionally disturbed&rdquo; children. For the first time she qualified for one-on-one therapy, and Medicaid picked up the expenses that the family&rsquo;s insurance wouldn&rsquo;t cover. </p><p>But then the Kansas social services bureaucracy decided that because Danielle&rsquo;s disability is developmental, she couldn&rsquo;t keep the waiver intended for emotionally disturbed children. </p><p>&ldquo;There were a lot of tears about that,&rdquo; Cathy Bryant said.</p><p>A few years ago, when Danielle was turned down for Social Security disability benefits because her family&rsquo;s income was too high, a caseworker suggested a way out. </p><p>&ldquo;Get a divorce,&rdquo; the worker told Cathy Bryant. If Cathy was a single mother, her income would be low enough to qualify for Medicaid, and Danielle would receive more services.</p><p>The Bryants didn&rsquo;t follow through on that advice. But the state of Kansas should be utterly ashamed that the family of a disabled child should have to weigh it as an option.