alive even though……

the news about terri schiavo’s case appeared in our local paper sometime back. couldn’t quite remember when… maybe a week or more ago.

terri is the woman who is lying in the hospital in a vegative state with a life-sustaining feeding tube. her husband wants the tube to be pulled off and let her die, whereas terri’s parents wanted to keep her ‘alive’ via the feeding tube. so both parties went to court. sad to say, terri’s husband won, and on 18 march, doctors removed the feeding tube.

what do you think? are you on the husband’s side or terri’s parents side? there’s a poll done by worldnetdaily and it seems that mostly disagree on the court’s decision to have terri’s feeding tube pulled off.

to me of course i disagree completely, 100% to have the tube removed. i agree with what one tom delay said in the news:
“Terri Schiavo is alive. She’s not just barely alive. She’s not being kept alive. She is as alive as you and I. And as such, we have a moral obligation to protect and defend her from the fate premeditated by the Florida courts,”

yes i can relate to that. i can relate to terri’s situation. you see, i have a uncle, who is a priest, who happened to be in the same situation as terri.

it was in 1999 that he suffered a major heart attack. his heart stop beating and then the doctor said he suffered brain stem stroke. like terri, he is on a feeding tube. like terri, he is, as the doctor say in a ‘vegetative state’ (and not in coma stage as many thought).

though he lies there not responding to our calls and touch but he can move his eyes and mouth, he can cough and yawn… now wouldn’t you call that being alive? yes i can’t deny if the feeding tube is taken off him, sure he will die of starvation (like what terri’s husband wanted for terri)… BUT the thing is he IS alive, so isn’t it our duty to FEED him… so that he’ll continue to live?

likewise, that would be what i would like to say to terri’s husband.

there had been a lot of debates about the condition of my uncle. since my uncle is a priest, he has lots of visitors. some people say he is totally unresponsive, some say he is aware of sounds… and even our conversation, only thing is he can’t respond back. sometimes some people feel excited when they said they talked to him, he nod his head. excited because they feel he is responsive… but the doctor been telling us that, that was just a reflex action, he did not really respond. many times when we (or other visitors wil tell us) talked to him, we felt he was crying, when we spy tears coming out from him… but again the doctor said it is only a reflex action… he can’t respond. i guess the doctor don’t want to get our hopes high.

anyway, whatever, we still have hope in him. we believe he is very much alive like you and me. we won’t like what terri’s husband did, decided to have his feeding tube pull off.

our loved one is precious. life is precious. god gives us life. we should not take away what god gives.

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UPDATED: 23 march, latest:
A case for Criminal Investigation of Michael Schiavo
Does Terri Shiavo Want to Live or Die?
Thomas Sowell: ‘Cruel and unusual’

and the poll: majority says not to the pulling of tube