Red Alert! Terri To Die 2:oo Pm Today

[Donna]

JEB BUSH E-MAIL:

jeb@jeb.org

JEB PHONE NUMBER:

(850) 488-4441

jasJis, God reward you for your prayers, please don't stop.

Posted: October 14, 2003

2:50 p.m. Eastern

By Sarah Foster

© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

Terri Schindler-Schiavo does not want to die. She would like to go home. And she tried to convey this to her father in no uncertain terms by sitting bolt upright and trying to get out of her chair when told she might be killed, her family has revealed.

The stunning news was released at noon Eastern today by Terri's father, Robert Schindler, at the 'round-the-clock vigil outside the Woodside Hospice facility in Pinellas Park, Fla., where his daughter's court-ordered death by starvation is scheduled to begin tomorrow at 2 p.m. Eastern. At that time, her husband and legal guardian Michael Schiavo is scheduled to give the order to disconnect the 39-year-old brain-disabled woman's feeding tube that has provided her with sustenance for the past 13 years.

In an interview a few hours earlier, Schindler described the incident to WorldNetDaily. He said he was holding a cell phone to Terri's ear as she listened intently to the speaker, propped in her jerry-chair at about a 30-degree angle. Suddenly she sat up straight and tried to get out of her chair, despite her weak legs and muscles that were slack from lack of exercise.

His daughter's response stunned Schindler, who grabbed the phone and asked, "My God, what did you tell her?"

The speaker said he had warned, "If you don't get up and get out of there, you're going to die there."

"He was ecstatic when I told him what Terri had tried to do," Schindler said.

Robert Schindler speaks to reporters outside hospice (photo: Gary McCullough, Christian Communication Network).

And so was Schindler. It was part of a covert rehabilitation program the desperate father and Galaxy Wave Group – a therapeutic company on the cutting-edge of medical technology – devised for Terri in a bold attempt to bring her to a point of recovery where even Florida judges would realize they could not allow her to be starved.

Beginning in late November last year and continuing until the end of February, Terri received daily, hour-long therapy sessions by telephone with company president Dr. Joe Champion or one of his therapists.

While Schindler held the phone to his daughter's ear, they would talk with her, giving her instructions and tasks: move your left arm, move your hand, and so on.

"We started right around Thanksgiving," Schindler recalled. "The first day Dr. Champion listened to the sounds she was making and said he felt it wouldn't be long before she was talking. That was the objective."

The therapy sessions lasted through February, but were interrupted by bouts of flu and other illnesses. One particularly severe illness caused her to relapse.

The "tough love" of telling Terri what lies in store for her was tried several times to stimulate her to work hard.

In a signed affidavit read at the press conference Champion described one of the sessions.

Mary Schindler, Terri's mother (photo: Gary McCullough, Christian Communication Network).

"In December of 2002, I confronted Ms. Schindler with the 'truth' and told her that unless she helped me in returning her from the comatose state that she was in that she was going to die a horrid death," he wrote. "I explained in detail that they would remove the single tube that was providing her nutrition and she would slowly die of starvation. At this point, it was reported by her father that she sat up in bed and became teary eyed."

That Terri understands her own mortality and reacts so strongly when threatened runs counter to the official notion that she is oblivious to her surroundings and will not even know she is being dehydrated and starved to death.

Shiavo's attorney, George Felos, a well-known "right-to-die" advocate, said the claims of improvement that the Schindlers have been making in the last few weeks are impossible.

"There is no cognition, no consciousness," he told the Tampa Tribune.

He further explained why no effort was made to spoon-feed her.

"She simply does not have the ability to take food or water by mouth," he said. "If they tried that, she would aspirate it and suffer an infection that would likely prove fatal."

To corroborate Schindler's account and for further details, WorldNetDaily contacted the person who worked with Terri via telephone. He agreed to be interviewed, but requested his name not be used.

According to "Mr. Smith," Terri was able to move her hand, her arm, her leg on command. She couldn't speak, but she followed instructions.

"The bottom line is she is not vegetative, the way the husband and the side the court has gone with want to portray her," Smith said. "She definitely has some brain damage and severe problems, but she is not a vegetable."

"The problem for Terri is that she can do things, but not on a consistent basis. One day she couldn't, another day she couldn't or wouldn't," he explained. "I can't tell you the reasons, but Terri has her good days and bad days. On a good day she can respond appropriately with no problems. She understands."

Some days are extremely good – like the day she tried to get out of her chair.

"The way Bob [schindler] described it to you is exactly correct," Smith said. "She just about got out of that chair."

As he tells it: "I was telling her she has to work with us. I couldn't tell you my exact words now; it's been a year. But I was explaining to her that she needed to work with me, that if we could get her to the point to where she could prove to people that she understood, she could get out of there and go home with her parents. I was explaining to her that she had to work with us and respond or they were going to let her die. That's when she tried to get out of the chair."

Smith said they stopped the sessions when he had to leave the area for a couple of months and were not resumed on his return.

It is clear to Schindler that the therapy was working, but until now he has not wanted to talk about it. He could not even bring it up in court as evidence, because it possibly violated a court order.

The Schindlers had reason to suspect that their efforts to help Terri would not be appreciated and that Schiavo might even obtain a court order banning them from her room, as he had done in the past. At one point, he banned Terri's brother and sister from her room for five months simply because they asked the nurse to try and give her some pudding. But there were other instances.

At the initial trial in January 2000, the Schindlers' attorney at the time, Pamela Campbell, introduced into evidence a video of Terri made by a friend of her sister, Suzanne Schindler. It was shown on television news, and three doctors who saw it contacted Robert Schindler saying that they did not believe his daughter was in a persistent vegetative state, but that they wanted to examine her to be sure.

Schindler said he took each of them into her room, and they tested her reactions to stimuli. They found she was definitely not in a persistent vegetative state, that she was cognizant and could recognize her family, because when she saw members of her family she would smile and showed signs of recognition.

All three said they believed Terri had the ability to swallow because she was not drooling. The affidavits were sent to probate Judge George Greer requesting him to allow a swallowing test, which he summarily denied.

Greer accepted the affidavits but did not change his mind.

Schiavo was furious that a video had been made of Terri and doctors had been taken to visit her. In response to his demands, Greer issued an order banning further videotaping and any still photography, and a list of "approved" visitors was drawn up. The list was relatively long – over 40 names – but there was a catch. Visitors could only see Terri if accompanied by a family member. This meant even Terri's priest, Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski, did not have normal access to her.

Schiavo and attorney Felos decided that greater controls were needed. In April 2000, they moved Terri surreptitiously from the nursing home that had been her home for six years to the Hospice of the Florida Sun Coast, a place intended for people in the last stages of an illness.

Regulations generally prohibit a hospice from taking a patient who is not terminally ill and expected to live longer than six months to a year. But Felos was chairman of the board of directors of the hospice and was able to arrange for her admission. He resigned his position shortly thereafter.

A year later, in April 2001, her death by dehydration was ordered to begin, and the day her feeding was stopped her brother and sister came by with a spoon and a cup of pudding, asking a nurse to try to feed her by mouth. The nurse refused and reported the request to others. When Schiavo found out he demanded that Bobby and Suzanne be removed from the list of approved visitors, and Greer rubberstamped his request.

"We were trying to play by the rules," Bobby told WorldNetDaily. "But that didn't matter. We were kicked off the list anyway."

Terri was 60 hours without food or water before a different judge issued an emergency stay because new evidence had come to light, and her feeding was resumed.

The evidence was strong enough for a stay, but not strong enough to end Schiavo's efforts. A series of appeals followed, and in November 2001, the 2nd District Court of Appeals ordered an evidentiary hearing held in the fall of 2002.

Five months following their banishment from the Hospice, Bobby and Suzanne Schindler had their visiting rights restored, but only on condition that they not attempt any spoon-feeding.

"I don't want anyone trying to feed that girl," Greer thundered.

Greer did not specifically place audio-taping and therapy-by-telephone on the list of banned activities, but experience had taught the Schindler family that it was best to keep such efforts to themselves rather than run the risk of angering Schiavo and having their visiting rights suspended.

As WorldNetDaily reported, the Schindlers have been fighting with their son-in-law for 10 years over the lack of care and therapy Schiavo provided for their daughter, who suffered massive brain damage when she collapsed at her home 13 years ago under mysterious circumstances at the age of 26.

The contentious family dispute escalated into a major euthanasia battle in May 1998, when Schiavo petitioned the Florida courts for permission to end his wife's life by disconnecting her feeding tube, insisting she is in a "persistent vegetative state" and that in casual conversations she had told him she would not want to be kept alive "artificially." Although Terri breathes on her on and maintains her own blood pressure, she requires a simple tube into her abdomen to her stomach for nourishment and hydration.

Although Terri's parents and siblings have claimed for years that she recognizes them and tries to talk, and over a dozen prominent doctors and therapists have stated under oath that she is not in a persistent vegetative state and with therapy could be rehabilitated, a handful of doctors have testified she is "vegetative." They claim her expressions and vocalizations are simply reflex actions and she will never regain consciousness. Despite a scarcity of expert testimony and evidence for Schiavo's position, the Florida courts have consistently sided with him and Felos.

When the seven-member Florida Supreme Court in August turned down an petition by the Schindlers to review the case, the way was clear for Schiavo to order his wife starved to death.

On Sept. 17, Greer, of the Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court, scheduled Oct. 15 as the day Terri's feeding tube would be removed.

Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry is coordinating the vigil. He advises anyone who wants to help Terri to telephone Gov. Jeb Bush and urge him to instruct the Department of Children and Families, which enforces standards of hospice care, to do their own investigation to see if she has been getting proper care and rehabilitation.

"Which we know she has not and will not if they take her tube away," said Terry. "And when they find she has not, then Bush can order them to assume guardianship. They must take the guardianship away from the husband."

Jeb Bush's e-mail is jeb@jeb.org. His telephone is (850) 488-4441.

[Anna]

PLEASE, LET'S DO WHAT WE CAN TO SAVE THIS INNOCENT LIFE!!!!!!I received this message begging for the intervention of all people of good will to help save Terri. Please call and e-mail the governor.

Mary Ann Kreitzer

Les Femmes

Woodstock, VA

In the Diocese of Arlington, VA

www.lesfemmes-thetruth.org

"The first law of history is not to dare to utter falsehood; the second, not to fear to speak the truth." Pope Leo XIII

"The Federal Court said yesterday [Friday, October 10th] it would not intervene in the scheduled starving to death of Terri Schiavo due to begin this Wednesday. If you want to help her, here is contact information for Gov. Bush, who filed a brief with the court to save Terri and was rejected."

http://terrisfight.org

jeb@jeb.org or jeb.bush@myflorida.com

Ph:(850) 488-7146 and (850) 488-4441

Fax:(850)487-0801

oreilly@foxnews.com

"Let's get a massive email campaign going IMMEDIATELY. Copy this or your own variation re reasons this case is of NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE and send to Bush (both brothers), O'Reilly, and any others that can help. Send Send Send. "

24 HOUR VIGIL TO BEGIN - PLEASE COME!

Terri Schindler-Schiavo is scheduled to have her feeding tube removed on October 15th at 2 P.M.

Terri, age 39, is disabled. She is not in a coma, not in a persistent vegetative state. She is aware of her surroundings and has communicated that she does not want to be starved to death.

On Monday, October 13th, 12 noon, family and friends begin a 24-hour vigil on her behalf at Hospice Woodside where Terri resides, 6774 102nd Ave. N. (off 66th Street), Pinellas Park, Florida.

Please come to the Hospice anytime day or night to call on Governor Jeb Bush to use his executive power to intervene to save Terri's life, as we will be doing.

If you can only come for a brief time, please do your best to attend the press conferences at -

12 noon on Monday

12 noon on Tuesday

2 PM on Wednesday

If you are in the Tallahassee area and can attend a vigil at the Governor's mansion, please contact us immediately.

The Schindlers have invited Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, and Gary McCullough of Christian Communication

Network to organize these vigils and to help preserve Terri's life.

Mr. Terry says "It is inconceivable that a Florida judge has ordered an innocent woman to be starved to death. We all need to do everything in our power to rescue Terri from this cruel death."

October 13, 2003 Statement from the parents of Terri Schindler-Schiavo--Bob & Mary

Schindler:

We love our daughter very much and we want her

home. Over the last 13 years, Terri has laughed

with us, cried with us, talked with us, and even

tried to get out of her chair. The accusations

that Terri is in a coma or is a "vegetable" are a

lie.

We beg Michael Schiavo, and those working with him

to end our daughter’s life, to let her come home

to her family. We will sign any agreement you

want, giving you all monies related to Terri’s

collapse and any insurance money that may be

forthcoming. You take the money. We just want our

daughter.

Pax Christi <><

"The greatest way for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke

[jasJis]

Actually, 2:00pm is when they remove the tube that feeds her. How long it will take for her to starve or die of thirst, is not known. That is horrible death that Teri has been condemned to.

It's not about pulling the plug on a heart or lung machine. It's about witholding food and water because she cannot feed herself. How many of us have loved ones that are paralized, physically impaired, or even mentally impaired, and cannot feed themselves? Is it right and moral to starve them??

One of the legal battles that Teri's parents have consistently lost, was their attempt to influence the health care decisions so that doctors can try thearapy that may enable Teri to chew and swallow on her own. Teri's husband has prevented that for years in every manner he could, based on verbal testimony that Teri wouldn't want to live an incapacitated life.

How many of us have said that we would rather die, then live as a paraplegice, quadraplegic, or blind, or incapacitated in some way. Think about it. Isn't that demeaning to the essential and inherent dignity that God grants all human life? What have we done to bolster this 'culture of death' in our world?

Thanks for the reminder Donna. I will say a rosary in a nearby Perpetual Adoration chapel at lunch today and pray for Teri and us.

[littleflower+JMJ]

dear Lord! i will pray also!!

when i say my morning rosary (right now) and go to daily mass and adoration.

my prayers will be for her...

may God have mercy and the BLessed Mother be there to intercede and comfort her!

i will also fast for her!!

+JMJ

[littleflower+JMJ]

pray pray pray!!!

God will hear our prayer!!

[Jake Huether]

What the...

Why aren't Terri's parents trying to become her legal guardians? Dude, can't her husband just divorce her and let someone else take care of her? Why is he insistant of killing her?

I'm confused. It just seems to complicated for the situation. Isn't there a simply solution, change guardians. Give her husband what he wants, his "freedom", but leave Terri alive? I can't understand!

My prayers are there. I will attempt to call Jeb.

[Jake Huether]

I wrote for now:

Dear Mr. Bush,

I am torn to pieces by this news. It just seams like there should be an easy solution to save a life. Please, Mr. Bush, don't let Terri die. She doesn't want to die! Not by starvation. It is intolerable that a husband should want to kill his wife. The union of marriage is for quite the opposite purpose: to bring life to the person. It is well documented that Terri's husband has been a severe roadblock in his wives potential recovery, not to mention a severe roadblock to her socially and spiritually. This is attempted murder. There is no question about it. Terri is alive, she is a human, and she is innocent. It is unconstitutional to deprive a living HUMAN of LIFE. Liberty and the pursuit of happiness are secondary to Life! We know that abortion is wrong, but somehow our culture has made it a debate about when life begins. There is no question here, Mr. Bush. Terri is a living, breathing, adult! Don't let our culture make a debate out of this too!

May God guide you in all that you do. May prayers are with you. Thank you for all you have done. You and your family are always in my prayers.

[jasJis]

Dear Mr. Bush,

You will be in my prayers today.  I will pray that God graces you with wisdom and strength.  I think that you know you were elected to speak for us that have a small voice.  All the small voices elect one person to share their voice so that it is heard and effective in the large scale of State and National politics.  Your voice is our voice to speak of large things that can't be affected by just us small voices.

God has put you in this place, and in this time, to speak for those who have no voice.  These are the ones who are too young, too old, and too incapacitated to speak for themselves.  They can't vote.  They can't dress themselves, care for themselves, or feed themselves.  Their need is greater than us small voices can provide.  You have our Voice.  You share our responsibility.  You also have the sum of our small powers and are in the position to wield it.

When you were elected, you received blessing, shared our voice, share our responsibility, and share our power.  We've been only able to elect you.  You are able to use the power our voice to shout for mercy and justice for the hungry, cold, and defenseless.

It is now up to you do everything you can for the 'least of these' that are the responsibility that Christ gave us, and especially to you, as a leader and representative for many small voices.  Place your faith in God and our prayers.  Be open to His grace and do the right thing.  Please help do everything you can to stop the diminishing value society puts on the life that cannot contribute to society.  Don't let society crush the voiceless.  We know after the voiceless, the ones with the small voice are next victim. 

Please don't let Teri starve to death because she was unable to give sound to a scream for help.

That's my letter.

I'm placing hope and trust that phatmassers will pray for the Govenor, Teri, and those who have no voice in this world but have you and me to pray for them and be their voice.

[marielapin]

My grandfather just passed away Monday last week. The doctors tried to do the same thing to him. He was not on life support, and they kept hounding my grandmother to remove the feeding tube. They told her that they would do it if it was their spouse, out of LOVE FOR THEM. Gimme a break! My family took wonderful care of my grandfather for 10 years while he suffered through his disease, much like the parents took wonderful care of Terri. Why would anyone starve their family member to death out of LOVE?

This makes me so sick I feel like throwing up. I will be praying. HARD.

[Jake Huether]

It is so sad that we have twisted the meaning of Love.

God is Love, and he wouldn't murder anyone.

[Anna]

I got the busy signal when I called, so I emailed Governor Bush at both e-addy's. I will send him more emails from other email accounts I have, also.

And I will pray.

Here's what I wrote, with so little time left for this dear woman:

To: <jeb@jeb.org>; <jeb.bush@myflorida.com>

Subject: Please spare the innocent life of Terri Schindler-Schiavo

Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 11:11 AM

Dear Governor,

The subject says it all.

Please do whatever it takes to spare this innocent woman from being starved to death!

Yours in Christ,

Ohhhhh,

and as I'm typing this, I just received an automated reply:

Thank you for your e-mail. This serves as an immediate means to acknowledge

my receipt of your message.

I am currently experiencing a large volume of e-mails, and your questions

will be answered as soon as possible.

If you are writing about a specific piece of legislation, your comments will

be considered before I take action.

I appreciate hearing from concerned citizens like you. Please feel free to

continue to keep me informed on issues that are important to you. Thank you

again for writing.

To subscribe to my weekly news update via e-mail, go to:

http://www.myflorida.com/subscribe

As I see it, if anyone reads these at all, they may just have time to read the subject line!

So, if you're emailing, just type something like Save Terri's Life! on the subject line.

Pax Christi. <>

[Kilroy the Ninja]

Are they Catholic? Is that why he's not divorced her yet? I mean, that's sort of noble and all, but it's far more sick to starve her to death rather than give her care over to her parents. I'm praying and emailing...

[Dave]

I am so beaver dam sick and tired of society treating humans as inhuman! Since Jeb Bush is pro-life and Catholic, I hope he'll step in. I just sent an e-mail too:

Dear Mr. Bush,

I know you, as a Catholic, value human life from conception to a natural death.  Therefore, as governor of Florida, I know that you will want to intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo, who is scheduled to have her feeding tube removed and die by starvation.  Many doctors have testified that, while brain-damaged, she is aware of her surroundings and understands things well.  And yet there are those who don't care about that and have decided she's too much of a burden, one of them being her husband, of all people!

With the respect for life that you have, I urge you to step in and make a decision for life.  I've always thought you were a true blessing for Florida, what with your courage in standing up for the unborn.  Well, I know that you will want to stand up for other defenseless people in society such as Terri.  The late Archbishop Fulton Sheen once hosted a TV program called "Life Is Worth Living."  Well, Terri's life is worth living too.

God bless you and keep you,

Dave Conger

[Jake Huether]

Are they Catholic?  Is that why he's not divorced her yet?  I mean, that's sort of noble and all, but it's far more sick to starve her to death rather than give her care over to her parents.  I'm praying and emailing...

I think I remember her husband refusing to let her recieve the Sacrament of the Sick. Was that her?

I think She's Catholic. But I think her husband might be a "Catholic" in name only. He's a wolf in sheeps clothing, in otherwords. Pray hard for him.

[Kilroy the Ninja]

I think I did read about him not allowing the Sacrament of the Sick.. you are correct.

Yes, hard prayers for him inDouche.