Terri Schiavo legacy continues

The Schindler family foundation established to carry on the work of advocating for the seriously impaired is doing some great work off the media radar, but they never sought the attention they got during Terri’s ordeal. They just want people to do what’s right for those in greatest need. But lately, they have been calling public attention to a case that needs it, if the baby involved might be saved from a quick death.

The sister of Terri Schiavo is weighing in on the case of Emilio Gonzales, a baby plagued by Leigh’s disease who has been the center of a battle in Texas over a futile care law. The law allows hospitals that no longer want to care for a patient to only give their families 10 days to find another facility that will.
Last week, a federal judge refused to grant a temporary restraining order to require the Brackenridge Children’s Hospital to provide lifesaving medical treatment. The medical center says it will stop treating Emilio tomorrow.

Emilio has been diagnosed with the disease, which is an incurable disorder that causes the breakdown of the central nervous system. Without the treatments, Emilio will die in a matter of hours…

“This is so sad,” Terri’s sister Suzanne Vitadamo said in a statement LifeNews.com received.

“That a hospital ‘ethics’ committee would vote to end the life of a child against his mother’s wishes is unbelievable, especially since Emilio’s condition has actually shown some improvement over the past several weeks,” Vitadamo explained.

Some people may wonder why anyone should go to great lengths or interventions in a case so dire a case as this “incurable disease.” But that’s what the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation does, because where there’s life, there’s hope.

Because of the foundation’s work, Vitadamo spoke recently with a mother from Madison, Wisconsin, whose seven-year-old daughter has a mitochondrial disease similar to the one Emilio is suspected of having.

“This little girl was diagnosed as being in a so-called persistent vegetative state for the first three years of her life,” Vitadamo says.

“Her mother researched the disease and learned that hyperbaric oxygen treatment had shown some success in treating the condition,” Terri’s sister said. “Today the once fragile little girl now attends school, against all odds and much to the amazement of doctors who said she would not even live past the age of three.”

Although there is no guarantee that similar treatment would produce such results in Emilio’s case, there is hope, Vitadamo says.