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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>