Michael Schiavo: A refusal to quit in the face of threats, anguish and vitriol.

He's been vilified on Web sites and talk shows. He's been called a wife-abuser, an adulterer, a money-grubbing murderer.

Throngs of protesters have waved signs and chanted outside his house in Clearwater, Fla., and they have gathered again.

Sometimes, even Michael Schiavo's friends have wondered why, in the face of all that, he didn't just walk away.

It would have been easier for him to relinquish guardianship of his severely incapacitated wife, Terri, to her parents.

So why not give it up, leave Terri's feeding tube in, let her parents care for her? After all, he is living with another woman now and they have two children.

"Because he's sticking by what he promised," Scott Schiavo, Michael's brother, said in a recent interview. "He wants to honor the last thing he can give to her."

Physicians have testified that Terri Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state and will never improve. Michael Schiavo has said his wife told him she would not want to live like this.

Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, formerly of Huntingdon Valley, say she is responsive and can be helped. They say that, as a Catholic, she would choose life at all costs.

On Friday, Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, which has been in place for all but two brief stretches of time since she collapsed in 1990, was removed. It could be brief this time as well. The House is expected today to consider a Senate bill that would allow Schiavo's parents to take their case to federal court.

Throughout the protracted legal battle, the Schindlers have made their religious views, their personal anguish, and their mistrust of Michael Schiavo a public cause.

Intensely private, according to his family and friends, Michael Schiavo has rarely spoken publicly about the matter, out of respect for his wife's privacy. Through his brother, he declined to be interviewed for this story.

However, in recent days he has gone on national TV to reiterate that Terri would not have wanted to live like this and criticize politicians for getting involved in a deeply personal matter.

His brother and friends also have decided that it's time to speak up. The mudslinging, they said, has become too ugly, too nasty.

"I have a friend who I think has been maligned," said Russ Hyden of Gainesville, Fla.

"We're tired of it. We're done. It's time people know who he is," said Scott Schiavo, who lives in Levittown near where the brothers were raised.

The thing is, even if Michael Schiavo wins the final court battle, and Terri Schiavo's feeding tube is removed, he really hasn't won at all, Scott said.

His brother and friends describe Michael Schiavo as social within his circle of friends, but otherwise almost reclusive. Except for the No Trespassing sign on his front lawn and the armed guards he's occasionally hired to protect his home, he's tried to grasp whatever shreds of normalcy he can.

His friends don't see the demon that protesters who have hurled insults at him do.

Wilma Mackay, a 65-year-old retiree from Palm Harbor, Fla., who watched her husband and brother die of cancer, sees a man who is "the epitome of loyalty."

Bonnie Rowley of Largo, Fla., a friend for about a decade, sees someone who "stands strong on what he believes in, and that is Terri Schiavo. If I needed a health-care advocate, he'd be my first choice. I know he'd be there till the end, and he'd give it one hell of a fight."

Michael Schiavo, 41, was the youngest of five boys. Six-foot-seven, athletic and model-handsome, he met Terri Schindler at Bucks County Community College in 1982.

She had graduated from Archbishop Wood High School in Warminster, he from Woodrow Wilson High School in Bristol Township.

Married two years later, they moved to Florida, where, early on the morning of Feb. 25, 1990, Michael Schiavo has testified, he awoke to the sound of a thud and found Terri on the floor in the hallway, unconscious.

He has spent three times as long - the last 15 years - first trying to bring her back, then trying to let her go, his friends and brother say.

In the beginning, they say, Schiavo was relentless in his search for his wife's cure. She underwent various therapies.

He rented a house large enough for him and Terri's parents, who had moved to the area.

He made sure she was dressed every day. He applied her makeup and dabbed on perfume, Rowley said.

He went to school to become a nurse, "because he wanted to take care of Terri," Scott said. "He swore that he could get Terri better... . One doctor said: 'Mike, you know what? There's nothing else we can do. The next time Terri gets sick, why don't you just let nature take its course?' And Mike wouldn't do it."

Many of the defining moments of Michael Schiavo's life have revolved around death.

In 1988, his grandmother was hospitalized with a serious illness. She had signed a "do not resuscitate" order, Scott Schiavo said, but when she worsened in the middle of the night, no one looked at her records.

"It took them I don't know how long to get her breathing again. They stuck a ventilator down her throat." To little avail. "She was brain-dead," Scott Schiavo recalled.

All the family could do was wait until medications that kept her heart beating wore off. It took a day and a half, he said.

After the funeral, the family went to the Buck Hotel in Feasterville. Scott and Terri were sitting next to each other at a large table, where the conversation turned to how upset their grandmother would have been at her final hours.

Terri turned to him, Scott Schiavo said, "and she said, 'Not me, no way, I don't want that.' She says, 'If I'm ever like that, oh, don't let me. Pull that tube out of me.' " Scott Schiavo said he testified about the incident in 2000.

Several years after Terri collapsed, Michael Schiavo's mother was diagnosed with cancer.

Eventually, medical complications required the removal of her feeding tube, Scott said. "It's not like we said: 'Turn it off.' "

Eventually, Scott said, his brother realized he would have to let Terri go, too.

The Schindlers - who did not respond to a request for an interview made through their lawyer - have been distrustful of his motives partly because, they have said, no one mentioned Terri's wishes until years after her collapse.

But, Scott said, "it's not something you think about while Mike's trying to save her life... . It's something that people do when there's nothing left to do."

"I give Mike all the credit in the world, because I would have snapped already. I know how bad it hurts me when I hear people talking about him and downing him," Scott Schiavo said.

Most of all, Scott said, "the thing that tears him up is he worries at nighttime, if he's working. He's afraid for the kids and Jodi."

Michael Schiavo met his girlfriend, identified in court records as Jodi Centonze, about a decade ago.

Initially, Rowley, who was Centonze's friend, didn't know what to think. The court battles had not yet heated up, but she knew the situation with Terri.

When Rowley met Michael Schiavo, what she noticed first was his "great smile, a gentle smile."

Gradually, her respect grew. "He could have stepped off and divorced Terri five years ago, when this really hit the court. And got married and started his family that way," Rowley said.

The couple has two toddlers - a daughter and a son. Michael Schiavo works in the medical unit of the Pinellas County Jail.

Both Centonze and Michael Schiavo had to face "their own moral dilemmas as far as having children out of wedlock," Rowley said. "But the two of them weren't getting any younger... So does that make him a bad person because he did that? Did he fluff his responsibility to Terri at any point? No."

It is Centonze, Scott Schiavo said, who now does all Terri's laundry. "She's been unbelievable. She supported Mike in everything he did... . She's gone with Mike to visit Terri. She's helped Mike clean Terri up."

Centonze has been a flashpoint for Michael Schiavo's critics who think it is a reason to disqualify him to be Terri's guardian. His living with Centonze "abrogates the covenant of marriage," said Rob Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council, who was among the demonstrators outside the hospice on Friday.

Looking back on it now, Scott thinks his brother "just wanted somebody to love him." He equates it with a widower who remarries, "but it doesn't mean that that person stopped loving their spouse that passed on. Mike was very lonely. I mean, he was a 26-year-old kid" when Terri collapsed.

"It's hard to imagine the circumstances he lived under," friend Russ Hyden said. "There was no closure, yet there was no companionship either. That's the worst possible scenario."

Hyden had met Schiavo in 1991. Hyden's pregnant wife had been diagnosed with cancer. A mutual friend thought they "might have something in common. And we did."

But it was more than that they were both going through "life-changing ordeals," Hyden said. "We both liked to play a little golf. We enjoyed each other's company."

Hyden scoffs at the accusations about Schiavo taking the malpractice money awarded to Terri. "If there was so much money, where was that money when I first met Mike? Why wasn't he driving a big car and living in a big home? He was driving a Jeep and living in an apartment."

Hyden's wife lived for almost three more years. He and Schiavo spoke or saw each other several times a week.

"He was always great with my kids," Hyden said. Hyden's daughter was 2, his son 7, and Michael brought them gifts.

"He spent a great deal of time helping me put my family back together," Hyden said. "Perhaps it was because his had fallen so tragically apart."

In a way, Michael Schiavo has said he can sympathize with Terri's parents. "I have children, and, you know, I couldn't even fathom what it would be like to lose a child," he said in an interview on Nightline last week.

But, he continued, "they know the condition Terri is in. They were there in the beginning. They heard the doctors. They know that Terri's in a persistent vegetative state. They testified to that at the original trial. Fifteen years - you've got to come to grips with it sometime."

"And to sit here and be called a murderer and an adulterer by people that don't know me, and a governor stepping into my personal, private life, who doesn't know me either? And using his personal gain to win votes, just like the legislators are doing right now, pandering to the religious right, to the people up there, the antiabortion people, standing outside of Tallahassee?

In a way, Michael Schiavo's world still revolves around Terri. He calls every day and visits several times a week, Scott Schiavo said. He can still talk to her, even if she doesn't talk back.

Michael Schiavo yesterday told CNN that he had a "sense of relief" now that the feeding tube had been removed and he promised to "stay by her side" till the end.

Begging your pardon, there is no conspiracy theory involved. There is, however, strong medical evidence, from blood chemistry as well as the bone scan, that Michael Schiavo tried to smother his wife in 1990 in the course of an ordinary domestic fight.

There was no clear evidence at the time or the doctors would have noticed it don't you think?

You also said...

She was taken to an ER where a desperate effort was made to revive her. It's not like they gave her a physical.

Desperately trying to revive her?

When she was brought in her heart was beating and she was breathing so what were they desperately trying to revive her from? A comma? All they knew initally is that she was unconscious. From there they set about doing a physical to determine why she is unconscious.

They especial look for trama as well as run all kinds of blood work.

From their physical it was determined that her heart had stopped beating for some reason, causing lack of oxygen to flow to her brain, causing her to be in a coma, thus causing permanent brain damage, ultimately causing her to be PVS.

We all throw in our theories while we wait for the news.

True enough but I think the facts are in the best that we will ever have them. And the facts tell us she is in her condition because of a chemical imbalance that caused her heart to stop beating which caused loss of oxygen to flow to her brain resulting in permanent brain damage.

I wondered if this piece would mention the obvious....Terri's life insurance, but it didn't. Also, who is paying Terri's medical bills? This might impact the thinking of some one way or another. But in the long run, when some sick or handicapped person becomes either an emotional or financial burden families can't or won't cope with, the taxpayer ends up paying. Since these are the most vulnerable Americans, they shouldn't be tossed out like so much garbage, especially when we're paying billions for illegal aliens' medical/educational/welfare. If Terri Schiavo dies because of this, the door is open to do the same to countless others.

We do know what happened to her. It took time to develop the information. A person can be smothered with few or no external marks.

If you have evidence of this crime it is your obligation to report it to law enforcement otherwise you are an accomplice.

If you have no proof and apperently neither does anyone else then what you are saying is this is your theory, a conspiracy theory.

I'll stick with the fact instead of what someone typing on FR who is unlikely to have any first hand knowledge of the parties involved in this case.

Thanks for playing.

Howlin's concerns are about Congress over stepping their bounds

The parents/family of Terri Shiavo begged congress to step in. Without something in writing from Terri, and family willing/begging to take care of her, why should the decision be to let her die?

I agree that it has nothing to do with Michael Shiavo's morality, it's about life and death and no written directive from Terri. We should always come down on the side of life when this is the case.

The government gets involved in all sorts of "personal/family matters" when there is or is not something in writing. Why not this one?

There is, however, strong medical evidence, from blood chemistry as well as the bone scan, that Michael Schiavo tried to smother his wife in 1990 in the course of an ordinary domestic fight.

How come the insurance company lawyers for the doctor in the malpractice case didn't use this as a defense for dismissing the lawsuit?

You don't think they investigated this angle thoroughly?

> death threats go above and beyond the normal bounds

You're right about death threats. But they are, to this point, words without actions. HINO has indulged in many actions detrimental to Terri's well-being; preventing relevent neurological testing that would determine her ability to recover, keeping her isolated, refusing to permit rehabilitative therapy, etc., etc. HINO's pursuit of a judicial order for Terri's execution by starvation is also beyond the normal bounds.
I don't approve of death threats either, but he did choose to go down this path which turned out to be a national flash point and highly emotionally charged issue. Like Truman said, "If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen."
Everyone would have been better off if Michael Schiavo had not pursued this years' long effort -- on his hearsay evidence claim.

I am sorry, but you are completely wrong.

No I'm NOT wrong!
Friday, early, afternoon Judge Greer ordered the feeding tube to be removed, NOT Michael!!
Therefore he should be impeached, and hopefully with Congress new ruling 203-58, maybe Congress also will go after Greer, which I heard both DeLay and Frist said they would, in an interview with Sean Hanity's radio show Friday afternoon. I would also like to see Michael and his cahoot Felos being charged of attempted murderers as well!!!

If there is proof he tried to off her, why didn't the defendants in the malpractice suit WHO ARE DOCTORS, after all, use that as a defense before they paid out all that money?

My response
Could be because after he got the money for the therapy, he refused the therapy...He spent over 400,000 of it on his lawyer trying to 'let her die' instead...

After, still means after...Look at the context of the posts...

Your response
He wouldn't be awarded this money until he won the malpractice suite for her collapse and current condition for which you allege MS is responsible for.

Besides you, who said this?
Unless you are saying that the only proof for her condition would be her saying that MS did this to me which in your previous post you said there were multiple broken bone.

Sorry but your logic escapes me.

After reading your posts, I'd say that's understandable....It all may make sense when you figure out who posted what to whom and in what context...Good luck...

At this state Michael can NOT do anything, just walk away or stay! I am sorry, but you are completely wrong.

So, like you say I'm wrong, well then DeLay must also be completely wrong??? Read carefully the last 1-1/2 line of DeLay's comment! ........Quote:
"A death row inmate has more of a process to go through than Terri Schiavo does," DeLay said earlier on ABC News' "Good Morning America" Saturday. "All we're doing in Congress is giving Terri Schiavo an opportunity to come to the federal courts and review what this judge in Florida has been doing, and he's been trying to kill Terri for 4 1/2 years."

....Hugh?

Oh, quit it, I've seen your posts on other Terri threads.

You're one of those quite happy to hide behind euphemisms like "let her slip away" or "let her go" rather than admit this comes down to a case of killing someone who is inconvenient to society. Guess what? Little babies and teenagers can be very inconvenient to parents, siblings and society.

I'm under no illusions about what is happening. Terri is not dying, she is being killed, slowly and cruelly. I would guess this comes under the heading of "cruel and unusual punishment."

In your eyes, I'm only an ass because I dare question your stance and your refusal to admit Terri is being killed. If you are going to argue for death, at least be honest about it and not hide behind phrases that make you feel better.

The other problem I have with Terri is the fact to many people want to look at this case in isolation, and not at the broader ramifications for this country.

I've seen a lot of conflicting and contradictory statements regarding Terri.

However, one rule of thumb I do have is this: If the NYT editorializes for Terry dying, then I'm against it. Well, okay, I have other reasons, just thought I'd toss that one out there.

Nice, by the way. Call me names, yet not answer any of my questions.

Michael is a man with a mission. He works overtime to give the DemocRATs an issue.

The DemocRATs are full of surprises!

They have finally picked out the hill, the defense of which they are prepared to die: Hill No. 2008 or Mt. Schaivo.

Unfortunately some RepublicRATs are scambling to join their leftist allies, but there's no surprises here. These RepublicRATs are the ones usually allied with America's enemies and are the reason I NEVER contribute funds to the RNC.

I don't care who is lying and who isnt, death threats go above and beyond the normal bounds and no matter what this jack@$$ adulterer did or didnt do, is uncalled for.

This is coming from the radical pro-life minority that is led by Randall Terry and the likes of Paul Hill, Jim Kopp and Eric Rudolph!

...in the end we may disagree but we do so based on an intellectual and respectful discussion

This is the end.

Speeding up the death of Mrs. Schaivo is akin to murder and is rather like being buried alive knowing there's nothing you can do to stop them from killing you.

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