 .
Born December 3, 1963, Theresa Marie Schindler was
named after Saint Theresa of Avila. Theresa grew
up in
Pennsylvania as the eldest of three children.
Terri, as she was called, was described as the shy
girl who
never wanted to be in the spotlight. With a love
of animals
she had a need to care for any and all lost animals
that she
knew about.
Terri attended and graduated from a Catholic school
and it wasn't until her teen years that she finally came out of her
shell. Though she could be naive at times, she
had a laugh that was contagious and a smile that never stopped shining
for those around her.
In 1982, while attending college, Terri met Michael
Schiavo and after a short time, the couple became engaged. On
November 10, 1984, the couple married and eventually
moved to Florida. Terri worked as an insurance
claims
clerk and Michael worked as a restaurant manager.
Terri's
parents moved to Florida a short time later.
On February 25, 1990, at about 5:30am, Terri collapsed
in
the hallway of the appartment she and Michael lived
in.
While Terri lay on the floor, suffering from a
lack of oxgen,
Michael called her parents before calling 911.
Terri was in
a coma for about two and a half months and when
she did
come out of the coma, she had suffered brain damage.
Doctors were not in agreement on the extent of damage
done to Terri's brain. Terri was given rehabilitation
and
therapy and some doctors said that if this continued
she
would improve. Other doctors said it was hopeless.
Terri's
family didn't listen to them. Michael Schiavo stated
serveral
times to several people that he and Terri had never
had a
discussion about what she would have wanted in
this type
of situation. Michael stated they were both young
and had
never had a discussion about this type of thing.
A lawsuit was filed on behalf of Terri, by her husband
which claimed that doctors had failed to diagnose
her
correctly. Michael Schiavo stated that he needed
money to
take care of Terri for the rest of her life, even
stating that
she could live another 50 years or more.
Shortly after winning the lawsuit and recieving
money for
himself and for Terri, Michael Schiavo decided
to stop all
rehabilitation and therapy of any kind for Terri.
Since the
court had appointed Michael as Terri's legal guardian,
there wasn't much anyone could do.
Terri's progress was halted and she was eventually
put on
a feeding tube and no longer fed from a spoon.
It wasn't
long before Michael Schiavo had moved on, he had
a new
girlfriend and eventually would have two children
by her.
Instead of doing the right thing, turning Terri's
care and
guardianship over to her family, he refused to
give up
control over her, even to the extent of banning
family and
friends from seeing her and not even allowing so
much as a washcloth to be placed in her plam in order to stop her hands
from curling up.
Terri's only form of anything even closely related
to a form
of life support was a feeding tube. She was not
on any
machines to help her breathe or any machines which
were meant to keep her alive by an artificial means. Terri's was
responding to family members, doctors and staff
at the
hospice where she was living.
Seven years passed by and Michael Schiavo "suddenly"
had
a memory of Terri having said she would not want
to live
in this condition. He petitioned the courts to
have her
feeding tube removed, the same tube that he had
asked to
be put in. Telling the courts that Terri and he
had talked
about this and Terri had said she wouldn't like
to live that
way, Michael was successful, on two occasions,
in getting
the feeding tube taken out. The tube was put back
in when
Terri's family went to court over it.
Michael Schiavo never gave up the fight, never stopped
saying that it was Terri's wish not to live this
way. Terri's family never gave up their fight to save their daughter and
sister.
Many motions were filed in an attempt to save her
life. A
subpoena for Terri to appear before the Senate
in
Washington was sent out.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist had this to say:
"While discussions over possible legislative
remedies continue, the Senate and the House are taking action to keep her
alive in the interim."
In that same statement Frist said the subpoena would
provide legal protections for Terri Schiavo.
"Federal criminal law protects witnesses called
before official Congressional committee proceedings from anyone who may
obstruct or impede a witness’ attendance or testimony," he said in the
statement. "More specifically, the law protects a witness from anyone who
-- by threats, force, or by any threatening letter or communication --influences,
obstructs, or impedes an inquiry or investigation by Congress. Anyone who
violates this
law is subject to criminal fines and imprisonment."
This subpoena was ignored by Judge Greer, who, over
the telephone ordered the feeding tube removed.
In spite of the continued fight to save her life, Terri's feeding tube
which was her only source of nutrition and hydration was removed on March
18, 2005.
On March 31, 2005, at about 9:05am, as a result
of being denied nutrition and hydration for 13 days ,Theresa Marie Schindler/Schiavo
died.
We may never know the entire full and true story
of what
brought Terri to be in the condition she ended
up in for
that 15 years of her life. One thing is painfully
obvious, Terri Schiavo was wronged by the courts and the man who had promised
to take care of her for the rest of her life.
Terri is no longer in pain, she's no longer suffering.
Terri
is with her maker, whole once again. Forever young
and
forever beautiful.
If you have any information you would like to add or
find that something I have said above is not correct or if you
have a picture of Terri or her family that I do
not have in
the slide show above, please let me know.
When deciding what I wanted to do for these pages,
I tried to put myself into Terri's shoes. That
was a
task I found to be impossible. I can't imagine
how
any of us could do that.
I decided on the butterfly because I feel that in
a way,
Terri was waiting to be free. She was trapped in
a cocoon of sorts, waiting to be set free from a kind of bondage that none
of us could understand. That is not to say I feel she wanted to die, but,
to say that I feel she wanted to be set free from a man who was forcing
her to stay inside a cacoon in the form of a marriage which he had chosen
to turn into a joke by living with another woman who has given him children.
I think the butterfly was the best choice for the
pages
which I am making for Terri Schiavo.
To read the lyrics to the song on this page, you can
click here: "When
You Come Back Down". There is a link on the lyrics page which will
take you back to the page you are viewing right now. |
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