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by Kate Adamson
And Terri died – with hardly a chance to live; Terri was a beautiful young woman living her dream of marriage and family. Bob and Mary told me what a wonderful daughter she was. She had many friends and would have had many more in her life time who she would have influenced with her sweetness and zest for life; but she was struck down.
Her experience influenced millions of people. An entire nation was riveted to their television sets night after night watching the drama of a disabled woman who died at the hands of a system that seems to have little or no understanding of what it means to be disabled or how to love and care for someone who is disabled and seems unresponsive. Nearly everyone got the story wrong, mainly because of a media feeding frenzy which never went below the surface. But we did know, was that something was wrong – very wrong. Something didn’t add up but no one including me could quite get their hands around what it was that was wrong.
What everyone did know, was that something was wrong, very wrong. Something didn’t add up but no one including me could quite get their hands around what it was that was wrong. Sadly, those of us who knew the true story could not get our story out.
I did dozens of interviews on TV and radio and so often I felt they just couldn’t get the facts straight about my relatively simple case - and I was right there talking with them! For example, my feeding tube wasn’t removed; it was simply not used for eight days and they weren’t trying to starve me to death, they just had to stop feeding me temporarily because of a medical condition. Further, I never said I was Terri, or that my condition was identical to hers. What I did say was that I knew how painful it was to starve for eight days. And, I knew what it was like to have people write you off when you are still alive. But always, there is danger that people will forget and do nothing further; so let us remember this issue. Let this experience be a water shed opportunity in disability rights and not be a forgotten foot note in history. The next Terri may be lying in an emergency ward right now waiting for someone to write about her or him. The next Terri might be me – or you. What does happen next really is up to you and me.
Many of you have emailed regarding passing on messages to Terri’s family. I encourage you to send a card or a note to the below address. Her family has received thousands of cards and will in time be responding to each one. The Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation
4615 Gulf Blvd - #104/103
St Petersburg Beach, FL 33706
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2002-2004 Kate Adamson 409 N. Pacific Coast Highway PMB #415 Redondo Beach, CA 90277 1-800-641-KATE 1-800-641-5283 Toll Free (310) 546-8142 Fax kate@katesjourney.com |