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TRANSCRIPT OF O'REILLY AND KATE ADAMSON

O'Reilly: The Back of the Book segment tonight, the parents of Terri Schiavo are hoping for a miracle. Their daugter has been in a vegetative state for 13 years, as you know... Ms. Schiavo's husband wants her to die, and so do many in the state of Florida.

But listen to THIS, In 1995, Kate Adamson was in a similar position. She was in a vegetative state after suffering a stroke. For almost 70 days, she was almost TOTALLY unresponsive. Doctors finally PULLED her feeding tube. And for 8 days, she was dying.

Then, Ms. Adamson began responding on her OWN. Doctors quickly put the feeding tube back in, and she recovered. Joining us now from Los Angeles, is Kate Adamson, and her husband Steven Klugman. Ms Adamson has written a book called "Kate's Journey - Triumph Over Adversity".

O'Reilly: So, ahh, in the Schiavo case, Ms. Adamson, you must have VERY strong feelings about that?

Adamson: I do. I have a HUGE perspective about what Terri is going through.

O'Reilly: What would that be?

Adamson: Well especially after having gone thru this myself, and the doctors assuming I was in a vegetative state, ahh when in fact I was TOTALLY aware of what was going on around me.

O'Reilly: Could you hear? Could you hear people, and see...

Adamson: I could hear, and see everything going on around me, and I had NO way to commmunicate with anyone.

O'Reilly: So you were like, paralized in every way, but you could HEAR the words, you KNEW when your husband was in the room when he was there, and all of that?

Adamson: Exactly. I KNEW what I wanted to say, ahh, I was completely PARALIZED. I had NO way of communicating at all.

O'Reilly: This is amazing. Its like an Edgar Allen Poe story...
So when they took the feeding tube out, what went thru your mind?

Adamson: When the feeding tube was turned off for eight days, ahh I was... thought I was going insane. I was screaming out, "Don't you know, I NEED to EAT!".

Adamson: And even though, until that point, I had been having a bagful of Ensure as my nourishment that was going thru the feeding tube, at that point, it sounded pretty good. Ahh, I just wanted something, ahh the fact that I had nothing, the hunger pains overrode EVERY thought I had.

O'Reilly: So you were feeling PAIN? when they removed your tube?

Adamson: Oh, ABSOLUTELY. Absolutely... To say that, ahh, especially when Michael on national TV had mentioned last week, that its a pretty painless thing to have a feeding tube removed... Its the EXACT OPPOSITE. It was SHEER torture, Bill. Sheer torture... and then having it ripped out.

O'Reilly: Its just amazing. Alright, how did you come OUT of this? How did the doctors know to put the tube back in?

Adamson: Well first of all having Stephen as a strong advocate. Ahh, and not only being an attorney, but yelling and screaming and INSISTING... insisting that they do that.

O'Reilly: Alright but, umm so your husband, an attorney, Steven, insisted and you, what did you do? get a court order counselor, to get the tube back into your wife's system?

husband: I threatened to sue the whole world, and I told them their best course was to ahh, try to save her, and maybe they wouldn't get sued. So they FINALLY decided that was the way to-

O'Reilly: Ok, so they finally listened to you after eight days, they put the tube back, and how long then did it take for you to come out of the vegetative state?

Adamson: Well it was a matter of time, and of course when you're in that position, I had no conception of time at all. I wasn't able to start eating food again. I had to start on pureed food, and still had the tube turned ON, because of my weight loss.

husband: There was a good week to two weeks where she was aware, she WAS communicating, and I couldn't get ANYONE to believe me. Just like the [Terri's]family...

O'Reilly: How did you know? ... How did you know?

husband: Because I would... I'd ask her to blink once if she could understand me, and she would.

O'Reilly: Whoa, well thats pretty OBVIOUS, a doctor comes in and you do the demonstration?...

husband: The doctors... well, she would be so WEAK, after blinking once or twice, she couldn't do it again for an hour or more.

O'Reilly: I see...

husband: These people are SO weak...

Adamson: You know Bill, I had to BLINK every ahh, thats how I COMMUNICATED... was blinking.

O'Reilly: But how long did it TAKE you, once they re-inserted the ahh, feeding tube into you, Kate, were you able to convince the doctors you were aware?

Adamson: Well, I couldn't convince the doctors myself, I couldn't speak. I had NO ability... so Stephen had to be my advocate.

O'Reilly: Ok, but how long did it TAKE? Mr. Klugman, how long did it take?

husband: Two to three weeks.

O'Reilly: Ok, So two to three weeks, she came BACK on the feeding, and then she came OUT of the vegetative state?

husband: She was never IN a vegetative state. That was just their...

O'Reilly: Ok, Ok, Ok, but she came.. when did she get COGNIZANT that everybody knew she was funct...

husband: She was... she was probably ALWAYS cognizant. She was in fact OPERATED on at one point, and they treated her as though she was a vegetable, and didn't give her enough anesthetic, and she FELT the entire operation.

O'Reilly: Allright, I'm going to try one MORE time... When did you come OUT of it so that you could SPEAK and all of that? How long was it?

Adamson: Well it wasn't until I was in ACUTE REHAB for the three MONTHS, and during that whole process-

O'Reilly: [interrupting] THREE MONTHS, allright then.

Adamson: In fact, I was on a week to week basis with... in terms of how I was recovering, whether the insurance company would still keep me in there.

O'Reilly: Well, its an AMAZING, AMAZING story, and ahh, nobody can say whether the Schiavo case would BE like- that way... But to hear this, makes everybody think. Thank you, both of you, for coming on the Factor.

Adamson: Thank you! br>

Thanks libby .. I emailed this story off to a few people

I saw she and her husband on O'Reily. What an amazing story. Particularly where she said she could see and hear everything that was happening. But the "doctors" insisted she was PVS and would "never recover". They were absolutlely wrong. This makes a strong statement that, at the very least, we should err on the side of life, when-ever possible/logical, in dealing with PVS persons.

There seemed to be some good news today with judge Greer- that he is willing to let Terri's parents make their case to have MS removed as guardian. Perhaps he has realized there might be more to this case than what it appears to be on the surface. I am thankful God and to the judge for this development.

That being said , Terri needs continued Prayers for her protection and that ultimately , she will be returned to her parents care. We ask for these in the Name of Jesus- Amen

TRANSCRIPT OF O'REILLY AND KATE ADAMSON

Amazing story!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH for posting that transcript, sweetliberty....I couldn't watch t.v. at 8:00 EST and meant to watch the program later, but sleep overcame me.......and I missed the whole thing.

Jesus!

thx for transcript, appreciate it!!

Being familiar with Kate Adamson's story I was keenly interested in what she would say on the O'Reilley show last night. What a huge disappointment. She has clearly changed the story of her experience to capitalize on the Terri Schiavo case in order to get free publicity to advance her career as a motivational speaker and sell her book. If you go to her website it becomes abundantly clear that the interview was a work of fiction.

Was Kate Adamson in danger of losing her life as a result of the brain stem pons stroke she suffered on June 29, 1995? Without a doubt. "During the first few days of the six weeks she would spend in the intensive care unit at Torrence memorial Medical Center, doctors gave her a one percent chance of surviving". This would be appropriate considering the location of the stroke and the damage that might be present. However, the articles she has chosen to tell her story tell a different story than she related during her interview with O'Reilley. For instance she leads O'Reilly and the audience to believe that she was that she was aware but the medical staff thought she was totally unresponsive for almost seventy days. Her own website disproves this.

Her own website makes NO claim that anyone diagnosed her as being in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). There is one article that states "From a near vegetative state just under two years ago, Kate has come a long way". This is a far far cry from the PVS diagnosis of Terri Schiavo.

During last night's interview she spoke of her inability to speak, yet again from an article she has placed on her own website, it is stated "Her inability to speak was caused more by the presence of a tracheotomy tube she needed to help her breathe than it was by the stroke, but it was very frightening nonetheless". Again this indicates that her condition did not even approach that of Terri Shiavo. Why, if the statements contained in this article aren't true, would Ms. Adamson place the article on her own website?

And what about that "rippng out" of her feeding tube?? This poses so many questions as to discredit the entire interview. First why would the doctor's and/or the staff remove the tube at all, unless so directed by her guardian or in this case, her husband. Neither the hospital, her doctors or the nursing staff would unilaterally make the decision to starve the patient and let her die. Her husband insists that she could communicate by blinking her eyes and claims that he forced them to replace the feeding tube under threat of lawsuit. Nowhere on Ms. Adamson's website is this eight day denial of sustenance mentioned, much less the traumatic "ripping out" of her feeding tube. Initially during last night's interview, Ms. Adamson states "when the feeding tube "was turned off for eight days, ahh I was......". She doesn't say removed or ripped out, she says "turned off". After reviewing every word on her Ms. Adamson's own website, it becomes very apparent that this incident has been created to help create a link to the Terri Schiavo case.

When asked by O'Reilley "how long did it take you to come out of the vegetative state" she didn't answer the question except to say "[w]ell it was a matter of time" then immediately attempted to divert the question to a discussion of her feeding regimen. It is her husband who intervenes and attempts to answer the question, yet his account appears to be at odds with the information on the Adamson website. When you read the articles she has place on her website, you will discover that her cognizance was discovered in about two weeks from the time of her admission. "After a couple of weeks, someone brought in an alphabet board, which she could use to communicate by blinking 'yes' at the next letter in her message." It was through this method that she communicated with the hospital staff and her doctors far from being unable to communicate for seventy days. If the stories that her own website reports are true, and if they weren't why would Adamson place them there, the new story of denial of sustenance and the traumatic "ripping out" of her feeding tube is more than suspect.

Lets see, her husband states that she could communicate by blinking her eyes in a week or two. " There was a good week or two where she was aware, and I couldn't get anyone to believe me. Just like Terri's family..." The articles on Adamson's website says she was using blinking to communicate words to the hospital staff and her doctors. Quite a difference.

There's more. Go to Kate Adamson's website and read for yourself.

One thing has to be kept in mind. Kate Adamson's story doesn't change anything about the condition of Terri Schiavo nor is it even remotely similar. Terri's cerebral cortex has been extensively and irreparably damaged and other than a small amount of tissue that is totally isolated (and the viability of this little remnant is in dispute) consists of dead tissue. Kate Adamson suffered a brain stem pons stroke, not the global damage that Terri suffered. Kate Adamson's cerebral cortex was undamaged. Kate Adamson was confined in the hospital and rehab for less than a year before she was returned to her home, upright, talking and carrying on near normal activities. Terri, on the other hand has not recovered or demonstrated any signs of recovery for over thirteen years.