NEVER GIVE UP!
What an incredible and beautiful article. My only complaint is that you should have put "tearjerker alert" in the title.
May I please use this as a guest editorial in Christian-news-in-maine.com ?
Thank you and the Lord be with and bless you, and love your daughter,
Jake
I don't think Michael Schiavo will ever understand the impact his decision to end Terri's life will affect children with disabilities.
Stay strong for your precious daughter!
just ... wow! Those who "get it" will see just how on point is your amazing essay; those who don't won't.
What a beautiful article -- thank you for writing it. I'm expecting our second baby, a girl, on June 8th, and your article is a reminder to everyone that our children are gifts from God, no matter their abilities.
Now if we could only get Judge Greer to explain to your daughter why he's consistantly ruled against people with disabilities when he's made his judgements in favor of Michael Schiavo.
Thank you for sharing your perspective on the strength that it takes to be the parent of a disabled child.
I can't read your post without responding to your heartfelt witness. Thank you for sharing. I hope you will continue to be sustained and strengthened through your faith in God.
I had to stop and re-read this three times to get through it. The tears kept clouding my eyes. I would also like to submit to an online publication with which I am affiliated. I will email you privately via FReepmail. God Bless you, Lora and your family. You are a beautiful example of victory over tragedy.
[My doctor brother later telling me how guilty he felt because he rushed in and put the life saving tube down Lora’s throat so she could breathe and now I have a life time of burden thanks to him.]
I often wonder how many babies in the same distress are allowed to die while medical personnel rationalize the "burden" being put on the parents.
True fulfillment in life is realized by serving others. I cannot imagine your trials. May God bless you and your wife as you love and care for your precious daughter.
"Honey, because it's the law"
God Bless you sir for coming forward with your story.
Straight from your heart, and into ours. Who are we to judge what God has given, and who but God can give life?
Thank you so very very much for posting this for us. YOU ARE A GREAT GUY!! I just know your wife loves you and is proud of you.
Your daughter is a true gift from GOD.
PING!!
May our God continue to guide your steps. How many you have taught today with this simple article. Thank you.
My name is Andrew. I'm just a few months younger than your daughter. I was born with an autistic spectrum disorder called Asperger's Syndrome, which shares many traits with your daughter's form of classical autism. I won't claim to be as severe as her, but I can definitely empathize with some of the things she's undoubtedly gone through.
I'll try to keep my thoughts as brief as possible. In all honesty, there is a TREMENDOUS difference between autism and a persistent vegetative state. The CAT scans don't lie, I'm afraid. Even a layperson in the field of neurological sciences, such as myself (all those conversations my mom had with various therapists over the years rubbed off) can see that a vast portion of her brain is comprised of an atrophied cavity filled with spinal fluid. It's a fundamental scientific tenet that nerve tissue does not regenerate. Terri Schiavo was beyond any chance of leading any sort of productive life. She felt no happiness, or sadness, or pain, or hunger, or thirst. The parts of her brain that controlled all of those things had deteriorated. She spent fourteen long years as a lifeless husk, whose soul was bound to this earth by the cruel fetters of a feeding tube.
Meanwhile, autistics like your daughter are perfectly capable of feeling emotions. Their brains simply work differently (as opposed to Schiavo, whose brain simply didn't work at all). Schiavo wasn't disabled. She was simply dead inside, her body acting on pure motor reflex.
Michael Schiavo tried for years to get her the best care and therapy possible, and has been horribly misrepresented by protesting fundamentalist bullies and opportunistic GOP bureaucrats who haven't the slightest knowledge of the real circumstances of the situation. If I were ever in a persistent vegetative state, I wouldn't want to be kept alive on a feeding tube with no hope of recovery for fourteen years, and I certainly wouldn't want to become the center of a bonafide three-ring circus.
Best wishes to you and your family.
that part doesn't sound like brain damage. this article is so moving I still fight the reaction that it's fake. the lengths God goes to to teach us.
Absolutely awesome, thank you.
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