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sniffa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:27 PM
Original message
got a message ($$) from terry schiavo's dad
i get severaL of these every day (emaiLs requesting money for various RW causes) and i usuaLLy don't even open them unLess something in the subject Line attracts my eye.
this is heartbreaking, but it seems very misLeading from what i know of the story..... and is this just a scam? anyhow...
----------------------------------------------

Dear Friend of Life,

By now you have probably heard about a young woman who is threatened with starvation in Florida.

That young woman is my daughter, Terri. In 1990, through circumstances which are shrouded in mystery (and may involve a criminal act by Terri's estranged husband), my daughter was left severely brain-damaged.

But before I go any further, I must put an end to the lies and misinformation that are circulating around the country through the media concerning my daughter's condition.

Contrary to anything you may have heard, Terri is NOT brain dead; Terri is NOT in a coma; she is NOT in a "persistent vegetative state;" nor is she on ANY life-support system.


Terri Schiavo responds
to her mother's touch

Terri laughs, Terri cries, she moves, and she makes child-like attempts at speech with her mother and me. Sometimes she will say "Mom" or "Dad" or "yeah" when we ask her a question. When I kiss her hello or goodbye, she looks at me and "puckers up" her lips.

This may not seem like much to you, but it means everything to Terri's mother and me. It tells us she is still here, she still knows us, and with therapy and time she can have some level of recovery.

I know that there are some hard hearted people who believe that due to my daughters condition, she is better off dead. Words cannot describe the pain and anger such sentiments cause us. This is our daughter, our little girl, and even in her disabled condition, she still has the right to life and the right to be loved and cared for by her family.

Why, you may ask, is Terry in danger of death by starvation?

It is a long and outrageous story, but I'll give it to you as briefly as I can.

After the "incident" that left Terry in this condition, her husband Michael Schiavo sued various members of the medical community for money, saying that they did not treat or diagnose her properly at an early stage, and that he needed this money to provide for Terri's therapy and rehabilitation and care.

After lengthy court battles, he finally won upwards of $1.7 million under the guise of caring for our daughter, and then to our horror, he immediately began spending the money on himself and his Playboy lifestyle.

Terri's estranged husband Michael Schiavo has been living with another woman for years, and has two children by her. He is determined to see Terri dead. Why? We believe it's because he gets to keep whatever money is left... and he may have even darker motives than that.

To add insult to all of this injury toward my daughter, Michael Schiavo is still her "legal husband" and therefore is her "guardian." And since they are not legally divorced, he controls whatever health care she will and will not get. We are not even allowed to know if she is getting aspirin.

In 1993 my family initiated litigation against Michael Schiavo solely for the purpose of acquiring medical, physical and neurological assistance for our daughter Terri. The litigation escalated in 1998 when Michael Schiavo petitioned the court to stop Terri from receiving food and water, thereby starving her to death.

In filing this legal action, he retained the services of a high profile euthanasia attorney and the financial backing of powerful euthanasia organizations. He also used Terri's medical rehabilitation money to underwrite much of the legal expenses associated with his effort to starve our daughter to death.

We know that he has spent nearly $500,000 of Terri's money in attorney's fees for just one attorney trying to obtain a court order to have Terri starved to death. The very money that was supposed to be used for Terri's rehabilitation is being used to have her killed.

We very quickly discovered it was impossible for us to compete with the abundance of financial and legal resources the pro-death organizations were providing Micheal Schiavo in their effort to kill Terri. They are pouring time and effort into her starvation because they want to use this case to further the agenda of legalized euthanasia.

My wife and I are not wealthy people. Throughout those years, we did not have any large organizations trying to help rescue our daughter. Consequently, we had to rely on the generosity of attorneys who were willing to offer their legal expertise at no cost or at reduced fees.

The bottom line is that we are in the final weeks or months of our struggle to rescue our daughter from an untimely death by starvation. Death by starvation is very slow, and extremely painful. As you must know, it is against the law to deliberately starve an animal to death. There are members of the Florida court who would not treat a dog the way they plan to treat my daughter.

At this point we must pull out all the stops in our fight to rescue our daughter.

As parents, we are desperate to save our daughter's life. As people who love life, we are determined to deprive the euthanasia advocates of successfully legalizing this form of homicide. We believe that their efforts to kill Terri are designed to set a precedent for the future eradication of defenseless disabled human beings. I was alive when Americans fought the Nazis; I do not want my daughter to meet the same fate of thousands of disabled people in Nazi Germany, and I do not want our country to go down that same dark path.

Friend, though we have never met, I'm asking you for your help. We desperately need your financial assistance to help our family continue the battle to keep our daughter from being starved to death. There are so many expenses in a case like this it is mind-boggling and overwhelming. Please click below to make a contribution now:

https://secure.cartlight.com/merchant/terri/?afid=max

Our adversaries believe that by our family's financial attrition and difficulties, they will attain their objective of killing our daughter. Presently, Terri's starvation may only be a few weeks away, unless we find the financial resources to prevent this atrocity from becoming a reality.

I implore you to please help us. We are writing to you, because we believe you have a heart for justice and mercy. I'm asking you to put yourself in my shoes, and then do whatever you can to help our family. Whether it is $10 or $1000, we are desperate for the resources to fight this battle for our daughter's life at this critical juncture.

Please do whatever you can, and forward this e-mail to any friends or family that you have who you think might be interested in saving Terri's life.

I thank you for your time, your concern, and I solicit your prayers for Terri and our entire family. These have been very trying times for us all.

Sincerely,

Bob Schindler Sr.
--------------------------------

the Letter was Littered with boLd faced and underLined portions that i did not reproduce here.
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ronnykmarshall Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:30 PM
Response to Original message
1. Sounds like a scam.
How did you get on their mailing lists?
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sniffa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:32 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. i'm signed up for newsmax's breaking news
which usuaLLy incLudes other bizarre scams... but this is the first one that actuaLLy found one of my few heart strings to tug on.
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RedCloud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 01:49 PM
Response to Reply #1
28. Mailing lists? or Schindler's list?
Sorry!
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Midlodemocrat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:31 PM
Response to Original message
2. Sounds like a scam
and if I were her husband, I would be suing for libel.
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sniffa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:33 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. yeah, i don't get that shit
i didn't know he put her in a coma, is Living Like a pLayboy, etc..
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Midlodemocrat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:39 PM
Response to Reply #4
8. People often just can't accept the truth about
their loved ones and medical conditions. I see a lot when I volunteer with special needs kids. The ones who do the best are the ones whose parents have embraced the situation and are dealing with it and the ones who do the worst are the ones whose parents deny the severity of the situation. Actually very sad.
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RPM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:35 PM
Response to Original message
5. He is determined to see Terri dead. Why?
hmmmmm, maybe because he doesn't want to be married to a cauliflower.

guh.
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MADem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:37 PM
Response to Original message
6. I find it challenging to believe that Florida Courts
...could possibly be hotbeds of liberalism and "pro-death" sentiment. I find it impossible to believe that her medical condition has not been verified, reverified, and verified yet again.

I feel bad for those parents, bad for the husband, bad for everyone. The courts have determined that there is no hope, and that the husband is the one to advocate for his wife's wishes. It points out the necessity to make one's wishes VERY VERY CLEAR, in writing, to avoid this kind of stuff.

Demonizing the husband, who I understand went to nursing school to try to learn as much as he could to help his wife, is not going to bring the woman back. And at this point in time, if he abdicated his responsibility towards her, I think the court would appoint another guardian to carry out her wishes, and it would not be the parents, in any case. Absent an overturning ruling, the deed is as good as done.
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iamjoy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:37 PM
Response to Original message
7. I Think Some Of It is Untrue
for example, why must he try to portray Michael Schiavo as culpable for Terri's condition? He fails to mention that Michael Schiavo claims Terri would not have wanted to live this way, but there is no written documentation of it.

Mr. Schindler makes some valid points, but the letter is an attack (understandable given his emotions) and contains its own distortions. Medical doctors have concurred that there is no opportunity for improvement.

While normally I support an individual's decision to not have extraordinary measure to prolong his/her own life - I do think letting Terri starve to death is unnecessarily cruel.

I think Michael Schiavo should be able to divorce Terri and the Schindler's should offer whatever financial settlement possible to make it happen. Then they can decide Terri's fate and Mr. Schiavo can get on with his life. But, maybe he feels he will not get closure while she is still alive.

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KittyWampus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:42 PM
Response to Reply #7
9. Terri Doesn't Exist Anymore.The Higher Brain Is Gone Permanently.
There can be no person sitting in a chair when the chair no longer has a seat or legs.

There is no money involved in the husband's case.

And the body that used to hold Terri could be given pain killers up to the point it stops all functions.
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xmas74 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 01:07 PM
Response to Reply #9
19. I believe that too.
My grandfather recently passed away. He was on support until the doctors informed us that there was nothing else that could be done. It was decided, as a family, to let him go. He was given large amounts of pain medication and he didn't feel a thing (though he did know what was happening-he limply waved his hand goodbye).
Terri has no quality of life. Her husband has never been given the chance to move on and neither have her parents. There are ways to make her passage as painless as possible (probably involving less pain than she is living with now). It is time to let her go with dignity.
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Frances Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:50 PM
Response to Reply #7
11. Maybe the husband feels he must honor his wife's wishes
My husband and I have signed health power of attorney documents for each other. I hope that neither of us ever has to experience what this husband has.

By the way, the letter is a tear jerker and I do sympathize with the parents. However, I believe that the parents are acting out of their own needs, not their daughter's.

30 years ago, a young woman in my home town was dying of cancer. Her mother sat with her day by day. Finally, the daughter said, "Mom, I'm ready to die, but I can't let go until you do." The mother went out into the hall of the hospital and thought over what her daughter had said. Finally, she made her peace with her loss and went back to her daughter's bedside. "I understand," she said. An hour later, her daughter died.
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sniffa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:58 PM
Response to Reply #11
15. or maybe the husband has
other, 'more dark' motives. maybe he worships satan.
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SCDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:55 PM
Response to Reply #7
13. Starving to death sounds harsh
but actually I think it is a more common and normal action that takes place frequently. There was a child at my son's daycare who was diagnosed with Tay Sachs at 1 year of age. His situation became worse and worse and eventually needed a feeding tube and yada yada yada. Well just after he turned three his situation was getting even worse his stomach ceased to function and it was just storing food not doing anything with it. The parents were told to stop feeding him. He lived for like 3 months longer. The whole process was an emotional roller coaster for them but when he did end up passing they were ready for him to free himself and were ready to end the pain. It wasn't assisted suicide it was just how life played out.
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jonnyblitz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:44 PM
Response to Original message
10. i had one email addy totally dedicated to right wing mailings
at one point. I received some crazy stuff but sort of lost interesting in reading it all after awhile. anything "touching" from that crowd i would assume to be suspect. :shrug: :puke::scared:
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deek Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:53 PM
Response to Original message
12. #1--is not a RW cause
Please check out the article here:

Liberals and disability rights: Why don't they 'get it'?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=250x585


#2 Go to the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation ( www.terrisfight.org )if you want to donate.

from site:
Donations
.
The Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation depends on the generosity of others to offset some of the expenses associated with protecting Terri.

You can make a donation via PayPal or post.

Letters, cards and notes of encouragement can also be sent to the foundation on the address below.
December Update: Terri's foundation is in desperate need of support in order to continue the legal fight to protect her life. Terri's fund has all but dwindled in recent weeks due to new legal challenges. If you can help in any way, we at the foundation appreciate it greatly.

How to Help the Foundation

Click here to make a donation via PayPal.

Send cards, letters or direct donations to:

The Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation
4615 Gulf Blvd.
Suites 104/103
St Petersburg Beach, FL 33706

Check out the CD "Life" released by musician and songwriter Wayne Galley to benefit Terri's Foundation.

Other Items that can help:

Bandwidth
Laser paper and toner
Music CDs for Terri (she loves piano music)
Listserv services

For your safety:

Only the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation and Life Legal Defense Foundation collect donations for the direct purpose of protecting Terri. Any other source that claims to be a fundraising effort on her behalf should be brought to our attention here.

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sniffa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 12:56 PM
Response to Reply #12
14. true, it's not RW but...
the onLy institution that sends me updates on this is newsmax. :shrug:

the other items incLuded in these $ soLiciting emaiLs from newsmax are:

donate money to fight the UN
donate money to fight LiberaL hoLLywood
donate money to fund swift boat campaign
donate money to save persecuted christians
donate money to get prayer back in schooL
etc
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Modem Butterfly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 01:04 PM
Response to Reply #14
18. Randall Terry and the Freakers are involved
It's very RW.
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sniffa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 01:20 PM
Response to Reply #18
20. who's randaLL terry?
forgive my ignorance. :shrug:
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Modem Butterfly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 01:33 PM
Response to Reply #20
24. Operation Rescue
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sniffa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 01:41 PM
Response to Reply #24
27. wonderfuL
:puke:

i thought operation rescue might be something Like, saving orphans or abused kids or pets or something besides fetii and vegetabLes.
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Modem Butterfly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 01:04 PM
Response to Reply #12
17. The woman is not disabled, she is dead
Her brain is almost completely gone and the contents of her skull have been replaced by spinal fluid.

Terri Schiavo died fifteen years ago. She is gone. All that remains is her body and the most basic functions of her brain, keeping her heart beating, her lungs breathing, and causing occasional spasms and contractions. That's it. She is gone. Finished. Dead. Period.

I don't know what Terri Schiavo's parents hope to gain by using their dead daughter as a bully pulpit. I guess it's all about the money to them, for when their dead daughter's heart finally stops beating, they're sure to make a mint on the lecture circuit. This offensive sideshow has to end someday, and I guess they're just securing their future. But I think it's sick.
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deek Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 01:21 PM
Response to Reply #17
21. I would suggest
you read the article, dearie.
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sniffa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 01:25 PM
Response to Reply #21
23. this articLe dearie?
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Modem Butterfly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 01:34 PM
Response to Reply #21
25. The article would be relevant if Terri were disabled
But she's not, sweetheart.

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Pithlet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 01:36 PM
Response to Reply #25
26. Didn't you know?
If you disagree, then you hate all disabled people, and want to see them euthanized?
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deek Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 01:52 PM
Response to Reply #25
29. i take that as a no, then. n/t
.
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LynneSin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 02:05 PM
Response to Reply #25
30. To be honest, whatever anyone believes about Terri, one thing is true
MAKE OUT A GOSH DARN LIVING WILL SO YOU KNOW THAT YOU WILL NEVER EVER HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS KIND OF CRAP OR FORCE YOUR FAMILY TO MAKE THESE KINDS OF DECISIONS

Seriously!
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Felix Mala Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 01:03 PM
Response to Original message
16. Can they appreciate a gay man whose lover's family steps in
and makes all health care and estate decisions for a lifetime partner who is dying?
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franmarz Donating Member (355 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-23-05 01:25 PM
Response to Original message
22. On the subject--of Terry Schiavo-Cut the crap already--
It is a criminal shame that this has gone on for so long. The only fair thing about it is that the woman is no longer here, that is her EEG must be totally flat and there is no one at home in her brain.
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