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by Kate Adamson
At this time last year (October, 2003), I was driving in my car near the beach. It was a beautiful California afternoon and the beach looked inviting as I glanced out the window.
Its beauty made me feel that I was glad to be alive. I was half listening to a talk radio broadcast about a 40-year-old woman in Florida, Terri Schiavo, who was going to be starved to death. This woman had been disconnected from her feeding tube. She was without food for eight days.
Suddenly the broadcasters had my full attention. When I was paralyzed, I, too, had a feeding tube disconnected for eight days and I knew what that felt like. Her husband had been saying that being starved was a relatively painless way to go. I nearly shouted at the radio dial, “That is not true. That is a lie. You ought to try it!” I wondered what else they were lying about!
Terri’s husband, Michael Schiavo, has been in a battle with her parents about whether his wife should be allowed to die. I felt so sad for Terri. My own lawyer husband fought for my right to live as vigorously as Michael Schiavo is fighting for his right for his wife to die.
Later that evening, I watched a news story about Terri, a once beautiful, vital 25-year-old woman, who is now spending her days in a hospice. She is being fed through a tube but breathes on her own. I broke into a cold sweat as I saw myself lying there. The difference between the two of us is that I was given a chance at recovery. Terri has received none. The past 14 years she has been in a nursing home with no chance at recovery or a life. Michael Schiavo, her husband, refuses to divorce Terri. However, he has moved on with his life and now has two children by another woman. He claims that Terri would want the feeding tube removed. Terri’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, desperately want to be allowed to care for and nurture their daughter.
Steven, my husband who fought so hard and well to keep me alive when I was similarly paralyzed, and I started reaching out to the media around the county on Terri’s and her parents' behalf. We soon found ourselves on shows including the O’ Reilly Factor and the 700 Club. We become friends with Bob and Mary Schindler.
In March of this year, I was contacted by the organizer of the international congress that occurred in the Vatican. My story was presented to the Pope in support of the right of people with disabilities such as Terri and myself to be fed. In March, 2004, following the Congress, the Pope announced that the church is opposed to the withdrawal of food and water from the ill. The Pope made the obvious clear when he proclaimed that the feeding of a sick person constitutes a natural act and can never be considered extraordinary means.
I was thrilled to hear the Pope state unequivocally that those of us in a position to provide sustenance to the sick have an obligation to do so. In the Pope's opinion, people in a vegetative state -- like Terri Schiavo -- have a right to nutrition and health care.
(Note: Before her stroke, Terri was a practicing Catholic. The last known public act by Terri before her tragic stroke was her public confession of her faith in her church, demonstrated by Terri’s acceptance of Holy Communion.)
Having overcome the same kind of situations that Terri is experiencing gives me the right – and perhaps the obligation, to give this issue a human face. I bluntly ask viewers, “Would you have killed me, I was no better off than Terri." It may be easy for some to think about a mercy killing in Terri’s case; however, it is far harder to justify the killing of a living breathing vital woman, as I am now, whose recovery has meant so much to many people.
I know many of you have Terri and her family in your prayers.
Next month I’ll be the keynote speaker at the Life Legal Defense Foundation, an organization in Oakland, Calif., that has done much to help Terri in her fight.
Check out my Web site; get your copy of "Kate’s Journey," so you can understand more of what I went through and what Terri is facing.
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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 |