An area family says they are experiencing tough times first hand.

Congressman Phil Hare was in Galesburg Monday with Bill and Donna Fair to discuss the importance of having health insurance, and the increasing number of people who can't afford it.

The Fairs lost their son Eric in March as a result of  heart failure, a couple of years after he lost his health insurance when the Galesburg Butler Manufacturing plant closed.

Bill Fair says what happened to his son is becoming all too familiar in America.  "My son, he was 33 years old, and he fell into this gap...working out of these temp agencies, and he would never get his 90 days in to get health insurance," Fair said.  "In 2006, (Eric) went to a hospital up in the Quad Cities with chest pains.  They gave him an EKG, claimed he didn't have a heart attack, and sent him home.  I know for a fact that if you have insurance, they keep looking until they find out what's causing these pains."

Bill Fair says Eric started having chest pains but was afraid to go the doctor because he did not have health insurance.

Hare and the Fairs say they are committed to making sure no one will have to go through what they did by raising awareness about the matter, and calling on Congress to solve the growing health care crisis.