today without evidence that many of the federal workers who will miss another paycheck tomorrow are, quote, totally in favor of what he s doing. in fact, a recent cbs news poll found that most americans, 71%, think a wall is not worth this government shutdown. and when it comes to the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who are affected, well, the stories of hardship just keep on coming. for some families, it s potentially a matter of life and death, including a couple that randi kaye spoke with in kentucky. here is randi s report. reporter: this is 15-month-old harper. she was born prematurely and needs a breathing tube. harper was in a kentucky hospital for more than 300 days and just came home in august. her mom, allie mckinney quit her job as a social worker to care for her daughter. we have to make sure there are eyes on her 24/7, because if she were to take her breathing tube out, she has no way to breathe. so she would instantly turn blue and she could potentially die.
death, including a couple that randi kaye spoke with in kentucky. here is randi s report. reporter: this is 15-month-old harper. she was born prematurely and needs a breathing tube. harper was in a kentucky hospital for more than 300 days and just came home in august. her mom, allie mckinny quit her job as a social worker to care for her daughter. we have to make sure there are eyes on her 24/7, because if she were to take her breathing tube out, she has no way to breathe. so she would instantly turn blue and she could potentially die. reporter: they thought they could rely on her dad chris r p rathcford s salary. then came the shutdown. now chris is working without pay. what does it feel like for you to go to work and not get a paycheck? it stinks. reporter: it stinks? yes. reporter: when would you run out of money, do you think? probably another month or so.
because this controls your breathing, the most primal part of the brain. this is the most standard procedure to have a bone flap like that. they will be watching for that, any infection, bleeding. on top of that we have her in a deep sedative state. every hour they are reducing sedation, bringing her to a conscious state and asking her to do very simple things, squeeze my fingers, open your eyes, wiggle your toes. and if those things remain stable, they will consider her neurologically stable. and that tells them that she s holder her own. the goal is to get that breathing tube out, get her off the ventilator. i think the next 24 hours is going to be the big turning point for all of this. neurologically stable and apparently able to understand simple commands and do what they are asking her to do. how long might it be before they get a real sense of whether there will be any long-term neurological damage or whether she ll have a full recovery. not for a long time.