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You wanna know about PVS? Let me tell you a little about PVS that you can't glean from the Internet sites. PVS is NOT a final diagnosis. In medical speak, yes, it sounds very devastating and final. It sounds as if there is never any hope. Well, I will tell you something different FRiend. I have a relative who, after a serious motorcycle accident in 1986, was diagnosed as being in a PVS.

According to tests run on him, 18 yo Chuck was brain dead. Fully supported by this entire family with no one dissenting, his mom "pulled the plug". Chuck continued to breathe. We ALL waited for him to "die" but it never happened. Chuck was later diagnosed by Dr. Hucks-Follis ( Pinehurst, NC ) as being in a PVS. There was absolutely no hope for recovery he said. Chuck was a "vegetable" he told us all.

Wrap your mind around a mother who loves her son with all of her being and who was his advocate, nurse, therapist when need be, drill sergeant even at times and you will see why Chuck is no longer considered to be in a PVS.

Elaine began feeding Chuck while he was on a feeding tube. Chuck's facial bones were all crushed and because of his brain injury, it was said that he would never be able to eat again. But, Elaine decided to give him a taste of jello. Just a little and enough for him to taste. Well, he swallowed it. She began giving him more. He swallowed it. She advanced him to broths then soups and then soft mashed foods. He swallowed. She knew then that he could eat and had the tube removed. Over time his appetite became so voracious he had to be put on a diet because he gained so much weight.

Chuck didn't repond to much stimuli either. We often wondered if he was even "there". Again, movies were played. Music was played. He was talked to as if he was with us. He was carted in and out of the hospital and nursing home strapped to a chair to church every Sunday. He was taken to the beach, to baseball games, to weddings and cookouts. He went to his grandmother's funeral. Then he was discovered to be partially deaf. Hard of hearing. Well, there was an answer to the "why is he not responding" questions. Different methods were used to get his attention. When his best friend visited him and spoke to him "face to face" he gave him the middle finger. Not a nice gesture, for sure, but it was one that was very welcome. From there on, more progress.

His muscles began to atrophy shortly after his accident but she began to stretch him arms and legs on her own. No doctor encouraged this. She just did it out of common sense and love. The more she did this the more he limbered up. He had rehab and can now feed himself.

A couple of years ago, Chuck spoke his first word. He didn't groan and moan like usual but clearly said "Mama" and laughed when he did. Do you even have one idea of how beautiful that one word was to his mother?

Chuck doesn't walk as he is paralyzed on his right side. He is slightly deaf as well. Yet, he is as much a part of this family as I am. He is at every function even vacation. We have ALL taken care of him to give his mother a break. It is inconvenient at times but no more inconvenient than having another child to care for. He's just bigger, that's all.

Not a single one of us would have considered removing from him the basics necessary for him to live. It wasn't out of selfishness, that's for sure. We all decided to "let him go" many years ago when we supported his mother's removal of his respirator. It wasn't his time. Because he didn't "die" when he was taken off of life support, we were ALL given a charge to care for him. We did. We provided him with what he needed to recover.

Michael Schiavo did NOT do this for his wife. Had it been "her time" she would have ceased life when her ventilator was removed years ago. THAT was artificial means of life support. Feeding her was not artificial life support. It is something that you and I require too. Is your spoon artificial means?

Who are you to say that with proper and continuous therapy Terri would have never recovered to some extent? Hell, who are her doctors to say the same? The human will to survive is often the basis for many miraculous stories. Yet, Terri, along with any will she may have had, was denied the basic care she needed. After her husband was awarded money for her care, all because he promised to care for her for the rest of HIS life, he disallowed any palliative care. If he denied that much who was surprised when he wouldn't even allow her to be treated for a simple infection? Funny thing is, she lived through that infection and several following infections. She did not die. Terri lived in a subexistant state because she was denied anything that would have made her better. Who knows what could have been for Terri? Not you, that's for sure. Why was she denied a chance? Why? I'll tell you why. The husband's greed and selfishness and possibly fear of her recovery. That's why. That man did not love Terri. Love supports, nurtures and is willing to do what is right. In this case, right would have been giving her over to her parents and getting on with his life.

God's will? I think not. Maybe some folks need to take in consideration that God's will may have been to use Terri's situation to teach OTHERS about sacrifice, selflessness, charity, and unconditional love.

But, what the hell. We can't let all of that stuff stand in the way of the law and a little money, can we?