The Terri Schiavo
Story: We Will Not Forget
Part Two of Two
Editor's note. If you
have comments, please send them to
daveandrusko@gmail.com. They are much appreciated!
As we watched "The
Terri Schiavo Story," NRLC State Organization and
Development Director Jacki Ragan remarked solemnly, "This
story is one that pro-lifers ought to review once a year."
The story is, of course, that of Terri Schindler Schiavo,
whose brave parents and courageous siblings fought with
uncommonly valor and incredible determination to save Terri
from a grotesque death by starvation and dehydration.
Made available by
Franklin Springs Family Media (www.franklinsprings.com/films/schiavo),
the hour-long presentation is a
special two-part episode
of the "Joni and Friends" television show. "Joni and
Friends" is hosted by renowned author and speaker Joni
Eareckson Tada, who has spoken several times at NRLC's
national convention.
A
diving accident in 1967 left Joni a quadriplegic in a
wheelchair. In the years since she has created a worldwide
ministry. Not surprisingly Joni took a keen, personal
interest in Terri's dilemma.
In 1990, at the age of
26, Terri suffered a mysterious cardio-respiratory arrest.
As the official website of the Terri Schindler Schiavo
Foundation explains, Terri "was diagnosed with hypoxic
encephalopathy – neurological injury caused by lack of
oxygen to the brain." (www.terrisright.org).
She was profoundly
brain-injured but not "brain dead." Nor was Terri, according
to her family and any number of medical experts, in a
"persistent vegetative state."
As Joni explains in the
DVD, Terri was a disabled person, like tens of millions of
other Americans. That Terri's injuries were more massive
than most did not make her any less a human being.
The DVD does an excellent
job summarizing Terri's life and the titanic legal struggle
that eventually broke out between the Schindlers and Terri's
husband. The husband's attorney is given a chance to outline
the reasons, from their perspective, why Terri's feeding
tube--and only source of nutrition--ought to have been
removed.
But the viewer will also
be reminded of a couple of facts. The assertion that a death
by dehydration and starvation is "easy" even "pleasant" is
as absurd as it is cruel. And even for the viewer who only
casually watches The Terri Schiavo Story, it is clear
just how unjust was the death sentence meted out to Terri.
That sentence is
summarized in three sentences on the Foundation's website.
"On
March 31, 2005,
Terri Schindler Schiavo died of marked dehydration following
more than 13 days without nutrition or hydration under the
order of Circuit Court Judge, George W. Greer of the
Pinellas-Pasco's Sixth Judicial Court. Terri was 41."
Take a moment to go to
www.franklinsprings.com/films/schiavo. You can view
trailers from the video which was the Jubilee Award Winner,
Best Documentary, at the 2009 San Antonio Independent
Christian Film Festival.
You will likely want
to buy your own copy and purchase one for your chapter as
well.
Part One
