JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A trip to the DMV can be frustrating enough when it comes to finding original documents to prove who you are. Even then, sometimes after waiting in line you don't have the exact right ones and you have to go back. One Jacksonville woman's roadblocks at the DMV could become life threatening.
Dolly Canning relies on her medication.
"I take it every day," says the 66 year old Canning. But her world was rocked earlier this week.
"I'm on serious medication and I saw my doctor on Monday and he said if I don't get blood work then he's going to have to discontinue my medication," says Canning. She added that she needs a valid ID to receive her bloodwork test and that she needs updated bloodwork records for her doctor to make sure that she's taking the proper medicine.
Canning's state-issued ID expired in 2017. She's unsuccessfully tried to renew it in person 4 times.
"I've got a birth certificate, social security card, power of attorney, my husband's death certificate, I've got a food stamp letter, social security, they know who I am," exclaims Canning.
According to the Florida DMV Canning has almost all of the documents that she needs. Because her name has changed multiple times due to marriage she needs the original out-of-state marriage license from a previous marriage in Tennessee to show proof of why her name was changed. But that's where things get tricky.
"I contacted the Tennessee vital statistics people and they said they can't do it without an ID, a valid ID, so I'm in a pickle," says Canning.
Florida won't give her identification without a Tennessee marriage license for a marriage that has ended and Tennessee won't give her a copy of that marriage license without a current ID... all with lifesaving medication on the line.
"All of this has just shot my nerves," says Canning, "has just shot them because, like I said, I stand a chance of dying if I can't get my prescription. I'm a person who lives on social security, I can't afford to take a trip to Tennessee and take my old ID with me and show them I am who I say I am, I just can't, I can't afford it."
Dolly Canning has all of the government issued paperwork proving who she is. She just needs the DMV to acknowledge who she is.