Colo. Woman Who Fell Into Coma 6 Years Ago Awakens For 3 Days,
Talks To Family
Woman Who Woke Up After 6 Years Relapses
Woman awakes after 6-year coma, slips back

This was a pretty popular story yesterday. However, I missed most of the news as it was actually breaking for an ironically related reason, which I will expound about in a minute.

At first, the media described Christa Lilly as being in a “persistent vegetative state.” However, realizing the unpleasant implications of a “vegetable” waking up, they soon alternated between her being in a coma or “minimally conscious.” Christa Lilly’s story is both heartbreaking and encouraging, inspiring and incredibly frustrating. Her mother, Minnie Smith, has been caring for her since 2000, when Christa suffered a heart attack and a stroke, and became a “vegetable” in the eyes of the medical community. Clearly, Minnie Smith considers her daughter to be a valuable human being, not a vegetable, since she has devoted her time to caring for Christa. What a blessing to be able to visit with Christa, even for a short three days.

Of course, doctors are mystified. They are shocked. They can’t explain it. Most importantly, as the KKTV story emphasizes, “In her current condition Dr. Bjork says Christa is minimally conscious, a slightly better state than other notable cases like Terry Schiavo.”

Terri Schiavo. To this day, I cannot even think about Terri’s murder without shock, disbelief, and mostly anger. At the end of this month, it will have been exactly two years since Terri was brutally murdered by her “husband,” Michael Schiavo, with the assistance of the courts, the media, and the medical community. Terri slowly died over a period of 13 days from dehydration and starvation. It was nothing sort of the most cruel and unusual punishment for a disabled woman who did nothing wrong, except for marrying Michael Schiavo.

Terri has been on my mind lately because for the past few months, I have been planning and organizing on behalf of the Cornell Coalition for Life to bring Bobby Schindler (Terri’s brother) to Cornell. Last night, Bobby came to speak about Terri’s story and the Schindler family’s fight to save her life. Their story honestly breaks my heart every time I hear it or learn more about it. I cannot imagine the strength it takes for the Schindler family to travel around the country speaking out about the horrific murder of their daughter and sister.

The misinformation propagated by the mainstream media was nothing short of revolting. The stubborn refusal of the courts to consider any evidence contrary to what Michael Schiavo presented was completely unjust. The silence and even approval from the medical community at-large and those who would call themselves “bio-ethicists” was disgraceful.

Listening to Bobby really gave me a better perspective of exactly how important this issue is to the pro-life movement. In the past, it has been easy for me to focus mainly on abortion because the thought of innocent unborn children being brutally murdered horrifies me. However, I am starting to realize that the threat euthanasia poses to the disabled persons of the world is just as horrific. These people are also often incapable of speaking for themselves. They are declared non-persons, “vegetables” of less worth than animals, merely because they are disabled.

I would encourage anyone who questions exactly what happened to Terri Schiavo to check out the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation’s webpage. This is not an issue that can be ignored. There are tens of thousands of individuals in a so-called “Persistent Vegetative State” that, like Christa Lilly, are being cared for daily by their parents or close family members. These family members are frightened about what will happen if they pass away before their son or daughter does. When these disabled individuals become wards of the state, who is to say what will happen to them? Will starvation become an acceptable alternative to providing love and compassion to the poor and needy? These are some of the questions that Bobby Schindler brought up. What struck me the most was the way he ended his speech. “Are we going to care for the disabled and show them love and compassion? Or, are we going to look for easier ways to justify killing them?”