[Hildy]

What good will it do if she can't eat. I'll go on the record here and say that if she can eat, I will go down there and fight for her myself. But we know that's not the case.

[Peach]

Oh, I agree. But as I just responded to another poster, there's a post on FR about some nurse of Terri's who claims that Terri can eat normally. I don't believe it and if it's true, I'd go feed her myself as well.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Hildy- you are going to eat those words someday. She can eat- and she could have eaten by spoon all of this time. Thousands of people know it is true.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Somewhere, in one of the BIG threads...Terri HAD been given Jello, and liked it.

I can't give you the link, Hildy, cuz I don't know where it is. And to the poster who said she'd choke...if that's the case, she wouldn't be able to swallow her own saliva, right?

Every report I've read, every picture I've seen, the ONLY THING that she needs for sustenance is the food. She's breathing on her own, swallowing on her own....everything but the food.

[TAdams8591]

"What good will it do if she can't eat. I'll go on the record here and say that if she can eat, I will go down there and fight for her myself. But we know that's not the case."

Actually we don't KNOW that. It's another fact that is in dispute.

But your test is whether or not someone can eat?????

[luckystarmom]

Lots of people can't eat with their mouths.

My daughter when she was a baby was put on a feeding after she was on a ventilator for a month because she couldn't suck anymore.

There's other people that are also on feeding tubes. The pope might even need one because he had a tracheotomy.

[shhrubbery!]

I'll go on the record here and say that if she can eat, I will go down there and fight for her myself. But we know that's not the case.

No, "we" don't know that.

What we do know is that Michael Schiavo has refused to allow attempts to feed Terri by mouth.

And, we know there was an order by Judge Greer that "nobody is to feed that girl" -- not even ice chips to alleviate the terrible tongue swelling that occurs as a result of dehydration.

But we DO know that Terri can successfully swallow some foods. There is a sworn affidavit by one of Terri's nurses that she fed Terri juice and jello, against Michael's orders. No problem for Terri to swallow those things. And, according to the nurse, she could tell Terri "enjoyed the pleasant taste."

I have experience with people who have had brain damage. Sometimes they need to re-learn to eat. It can often be done with therapy.

Michael Schiavo refuses to allow Terri to have any therapy.

Here is Sarah Scantlin. Sarah just "woke up" this year after twenty years in a "vegetative state."

Sarah has to be fed via tube because her "neck muscles are so constricted she cannot swallow to eat."

However, with physical therapy Sarah may regain the ability to swallow.

Now tell us, Hildy: What is that expression on Sarah's face, as she gazes at her mother? Is that the look of someone who wishes she were dead?

And tell us too, Hildy: Should Sarah's feeding tube be removed? After all, according to Hildy's Law, if you can't swallow, you shouldn't be allowed to live.