To commemorate the 20-year anniversary of Terri Schiavo’s tragic death through court-ordered euthanasia, the network dedicated to her memory is launching several initiatives to help other people with brain injuries and to raise awareness about her story.
In 1990, Schiavo was 26 years old when she unexpectedly collapsed at home and suffered a serious brain injury, according to the Terry Schiavo Life and Hope Network.
The website states in its “frequently asked questions” page, that she was not “braindead,” in a coma, or on a ventilator or any other machine. Nor was she in a “permanent vegetative stage,” contrary to the judge who ruled in 2005 that her feeding tube could be removed –
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she was still responding to her friends and family.
Her husband, Michael, who started a family with another woman after Schiavo’s injury, fought to have her removed from her feeding tube, contrary to the wishes of her parents.
Her feeding tube was removed on March 18, 2005. She died two weeks later, on March 31.
An autopsy after her death found that Schiavo was a healthy woman who would have lived a long life if she had not been dehydrated to the point of death.
Twenty years later, the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network is commemorating her death in three ways, a press release from the organization reports.
First, the organization announced the building of the Terri Schiavo Home for the Brain Injured, which will be located within Catholic Health International’s Saint Padre Pio Home for the Relief of Suffering Medical Center in Howell, Michigan.
“This new home will serve those like Terri who have experienced a brain injury,” the release states. “The home will provide unmatched medical care to those needing rehabilitation and to offer spiritual care to uplift, their families, caregivers and the community.”
The Life and Hope Network also announced that St. Mary Cathedral Parish Center in Lansing, Michigan, will open an exhibit honoring Schiavo’s life on March 22, offering a chance to meet her family and view her artwork and photographs.
On the same day, Cardinal Raymond Burke will offer a commemorative 20th anniversary Mass, where all are welcome.
The organization is also striving to increase its advocacy efforts for proper medical treatment for people with brain injuries.
“With the recharacterization of life sustaining food and water as a ‘medical treatment,’ it is now legal to remove food and water in all 50 states,” the release states. “This deprives families of the right to make their own decisions and puts the decision in the hands of doctors and hospitals who are strangers to these patients.”
LifeNews Note: Grace Porto writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
