A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE - ROSA AND RAYMOND

I get emails from Smart Marriages, and tonight, I came home to read this story of a love between two people who overcame a lot. The lady in this story has recently passed away, and will be honored by many as she becomes the first woman in history to lie in state in the Capital Rotunda.

But before she kept her seat on the bus, and before the results of that action became history in our nation, she had begun another story, that of her marriage. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did, and thanks to Diane for sending it out, and to my friend, Judy Parejko for suggesting that Cindy Coan write it. We need to hear this much more often today, in the world of 'give up and toss out', 'disposable' marriages due to easy no fault, forced, unilateral divorce.

God bless you, Rosa Parks.

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- A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE - ROSA AND RAYMOND - A MUST READ

The year was 1932. She was just nineteen, her soon-to-be husband a few years older. Neither had a high school diploma. Both had come from fatherless homes. Thus, neither had the example of a successful parental marriage to fall back on. What they did have was each other.

In the years to come, their marriage would be tested. As African Americans, both had a strong dedication to the civil rights movement. While firm in their convictions, they understood all too well the risks and the sacrifice that went with such involvement. In the 1930s, the wife often feared for her husband's safety as he went to meetings of the then-fledgling National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Nonetheless, she gave him her unflagging moral support. In time she would join him as a fellow NAACP activist, going on to become one of its earliest women secretaries.

Their marriage endured, as did their activism. They got through the World War II years and beyond. The couple watched their beloved movement grow as civil rights activists, steadily rising in number, called on America to remember the battlefield sacrifices made by blacks and whites alike. Champions of racial equality met with resistance from die-hard segregationists but stood firm. So did the young couple.

Then, in the mid-1950s, the wife was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus -- an event that helped spark the year-long Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott. The boycott ultimately ended in victory for civil rights supporters, but in the meantime both members of the couple lost their jobs. The next decade was one of financial hardship as they struggled to find work that would enable them to keep food on the table -- she as a seamstress and he as a barber. Not until 1965, when a Congressman offered her a secretarial position, did the couple's financial situation finally ease.

Throughout all their difficulties, the marriage of this couple remained strong and resilient, lasting nearly 45 years until the husband died in 1977. Their names? Rosa and Raymond Parks.

Today we remember and honor this steadfast and courageous couple for their real and lasting contribution to the cause of justice and racial equality in America. Yet, even as we celebrate their role in helping us achieve lasting social progress, we must not forget that the Parks achieved something else of at least equal if not greater value -- something calling for every bit as much courage, dedication -- and, most of all -- love as anything they accomplished on the civil rights front. That something was an enduring, successful marriage.

From the start, the combination of odds would seem to be very much against Rosa and Raymond Parks. Having grown up in fatherless families, they had to struggle through social upheavals, including a world war. They faced racial injustice, physical danger, financial hardships -- the works. Plenty of marriages have broken up for lesser reasons. And yet their marriage endured.

Perhaps some of you who read this are facing major marital struggles. Perhaps you know couples who are. As we face such struggles, wondering how -- or whether -- we're ever going to get through them, we would do well to remember those before us who lit the trail for us and showed us the way. In the end, that may well prove to be the greatest legacy of Rosa and Raymond Parks and other couples like them.

Cindy Coan
cjcoan@dakotacom.net
Cindy Coan grants permission to use this as long as you give her credit and include her email address.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cindy describes herself as a librarian and an indexer, mostly back-of-the book. Free-lance writing is her hobby. She has long had an interest in history, including African American history. Judy Parejko suggested she write this piece on Rosa and Raymond Parks, an expansion on an item Cindy had written a couple years ago.

I'm sharing the article because it is wonderful. I'm sharing the info about Cindy because so many of you in this marriage education movement could use a good freelance writer/editor/indexer.

It's amazing to me that I never heard this love story. Never even knew there was a Raymond. Behind every great woman..... I expect to see a lot of babies named Rosa and Raymond this year. -
diane
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Rosa Parks to lie in honor at Capitol

Please see the rest of this story here:

Rosa Parks to lie in honor at Capitol

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rosa Parks, the seamstress whose act of defiance on a public bus a half-century ago helped spark the civil rights movement, will join presidents and war heroes who have been honored in death with a public viewing in the Capitol Rotunda.

		Rosa Parks will lie in repose in the Capitol Rotunda this Sunday.
		Susan Tusa, The Detroit News

Parks, who died Monday in Detroit at age 92, also will be the first woman to lie in honor in the Rotunda, the vast circular room under the Capitol dome.

The House on Friday passed by voice vote a resolution allowing Parks to be honored in the Capitol on Sunday and Monday "so that the citizens of the United States may pay their last respects to this great American." The Senate approved the resolution Thursday night.

It will be only the fifth time in the past two decades that a person has either lain in honor or in state in the Rotunda. The last to lie in state was President Reagan after his death in June last year.

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Indicted

I am still not understanding how we could have had so much speculation for the past week (actually, much longer) of what was going on in a Grand Jury investigation that is supposed to be secret. (Leaks?)

However "Scooter" Libby has now been indicted. Five counts have been listed. Obstruction of justice is the most serious. Making false statements and perjury. These are felony charges.

Fines and jail time if he is convicted. (Have heard up to a million dollars and seventeen years).

Scooter Libby has resigned.

No "open question"

All I can say is, Good for Cardinal Lopez Trujillo!




No "open question" on Communion for divorced
Vatican, Oct. 27 (CWNews.com)

Vatican, Oct. 27 (CWNews.com) - Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo has flatly denied that there is any uncertainty on whether divorced and remarried Catholics should receive Communion.

In a rare public disagreement between Vatican prelates, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family spoke to the Italian daily La Repubblica just four days after Cardinal Walter Kasper had made the claim that the proper pastoral policy toward divorced and remarried Catholics remained an open question.

The October meeting of the Synod of Bishops endorsed the existing Church teaching, which bars Catholics from Communion if they are involved in illicit marital situations. But just after the conclusion of the Synod, Cardinal Kasper-- the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity-- had told a Rome press conference, "I cannot imagine that the discussion is closed."

The German prelate had, in 1993, endorsed a policy of allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion in the Rottenberg diocese. That policy was rejected by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in a statement signed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Nevertheless, Cardinal Kasper hinted that Pope Benedict XVI might now choose to set aside the Synod's recommendation on the same issue.

Cardinal Lopez Trujillo emphatically disagreed, in his interview with La Repubblica. "The Synod," he said, "did not leave any doubt about the Church's doctrine. This is not a case in which there is an open question."

"All these remarks about an 'open question' -- as if the door has been left open for future, creating the expectation of a possible change-- do not seem acceptable to me," he said.

The Colombian cardinal said that from a doctrinal perspective, the reason for the Church policy is evident; he observed that "the very Word of God regarding the indissolubility of marriage is sufficient." The Catechism is equally clear, he pointed out. He explained: "Those who say they are divorced and remarried-- because their [second] marriage is not a true marriage-- are in an objective situation which is contrary to the law of God, and does not allow them to approach Communion."

Cardinal Lopez Trujillo called attention to the fact that the question of Communion for divorced Catholics had already been raised by then-Bishop Kasper, along with two other German bishops, in the 1990s. The German bishops' policy was overturned, he observed, by Cardinal Ratzinger, with the explicit approval of Pope John Paul II. "You cannot put the current Pope in contradiction with Cardinal Ratzinger," he said.

The Colombian prelate concluded that "no modification of this doctrine is possible." He added: "This is not a question that is in debate, or can be debated."

Clearly hoping to ease a conflict with his Vatican colleague, Cardinal Lopez Trujillo told La Repubblica that Cardinal Kasper is "a great theologian." He suggested that perhaps the German cardinal had sought to accentuate the pastoral needs of the couples who are divorced and remarried, and "what he said was not well understood."

The president of the Pontifical Council for the Family also noted that it is possible for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion "if they are living as brother and sister, without sexual relations."

© Copyright 2005 Domus Enterprises. All rights reserved.

Harriet Miers Withdraws

Because I have no idea what she really would do as a US Supreme Court Justice, I am not sure how I feel/think about this. But I do know that I am really tired of the way that the media and the Senate try to 'take down' good people.

There were so many conflicting stories about her that it is very difficult to know the truth. I think that the confirmation process from BOTH sides this time would have destroyed her. I don't think that this is what the Founders envisioned in the Confirmation Process.

I will be praying for whomever the President chooses next. God help them.

American Girl Dolls

I could never afford the American Girl dolls for my kids, so really did not know much about the company, including the fact that it is located here in WI. And I did not blog about it because there were other things going on personally at the time that took precedence over the news. But some have been, and there have been some very good responses.

From Write Wing Blog, this letter to the company came in. EXCELLENT! And if they do write the stories, I hope that they get enough publicity to cause the American Girl company to reexamine their policy.

One of the comments that she got was from Billy Valentine, where he offers an excellent review and commentary of the problem.

There will be more on this subject, I am sure.

Grand Confusion

Perhaps it is just me, but I was always under the impression that a Grand Jury investigation was secret, and that no one was allowed to know the results until the investigation was completed, and any charges, etc to be made were done and announced.

So where are all these news reports coming from that talk about Rove, etc and possible indictments come from?

More confusion, this woman reporter spends months in jail under contempt of court charges for refusing to divulge her source. Now she is in trouble with her employer, and there is questions about her notes... nevermind...that one REALLY has me confused.

On top of that, the 'leak' did not even involve a covert agent, but an employee of the CIA?

So where are the leaks of the Grand Jury that are feeding this media frenzy coming from?

I don't understand this entire case, and never did. It is more confusing today that it ever was.

Even Alan Derschowitz and Ann Coulter are confused when I listen to them on Cavuto just now. Good to see that I am in company of more well known people than I am.

"Luv" that auto-save!

I did this whole blog essay last night and it is gone. I was looking for one more thing to add to it in order to make it complete... just one more thing. But I did not 'save' my written work...Suddenly...

Browser caused some error and must close kind of thing.

I hate when that happens! Gmail has now done an amazing thing that helps this! As you type your email, after a certain length of time, it suddenly becomes a 'draft'! And it refreshes the 'draft' status every once in awhile, so you NEVER AGAIN have to lose that email you just spent time writing! Wish that was true everywhere on the internet! It would save us so much frustration, wouldn't it? ( I have 'invitations' to gmail if anyone needs/wants one. )

Just Launched!

Auto-save
We spent 20 minutes writing this entry, and then the browser crashed. Good thing there's auto-save. It saves. Automatically.

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/about_whatsnew.html

No more 'piggy banks' ?

There is a blog movement out there to 'Save Piglet' . This story, which came via Nancy Valko to me this morning, is a good example of the political correctness movement out there.

Piggy banks 'offend UK Muslims'

British banks are banning piggy banks because they may offend some Muslims.
(See the rest of the story )

Pope Benedict's first encyclical Coming Soon...

Thanks to Fr Shane for this one!
October 24, 2005

Pope Benedict's first encyclical due
in Dec-source

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict has written his first encyclical, the
highest form of papal writing addressed to all members of the Roman Catholic
Church, a Vatican source said on Monday.

The source said the encyclical, which is expected to be published before the
end of the year, deals with one's personal relationship with God.

The work is just under 50 pages long and will probably be published to coincide
with the feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8, the source said.

Pope Benedict holds his pastoral staff during a mass for the canonisation of five new saints in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican October 23, 2005. (REUTERS/Tony Gentile)

The source said the encyclical, written in the Pope's native German, was
already in the hands of teams of translators.

Benedict, who was elected in April, told a Polish television interviewer earlier
this month that he would write much less than his predecessor John Paul, who
wrote 14 encyclicals and dozens of other major documents.

John Paul's encyclicals were divided into two main categories -- strictly religious
issues and social issues.

Copyright © 2005 Reuters

Cheryl Ford's book is Ready.

New Book Availability Notification from TRAFFORD PUBLISHING,

The following book is now available for purchase:

Title: Our Fight4Terri
ISBN: 1-4120-6140-7
by: Dr. J.E. Craddock and Cheryl Ford, RN
price: US$34.99

Description:
Our Fight4Terri , ³..a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the details of this American tragedy.² Patricia Fields Anderson, P.A. Attorney at Law


To order this book click here:
http://www.trafford.com/4dcgi/view-item?item=9256

This book is now available for purchase. Click on the link listed above
or copy and paste the link in your web browser to place your order.


RATHER PHONE IN YOUR BOOK ORDER?

In USA & CANADA please call:
Call toll-free: 1-888-232-4444
Offices are open 9am - 5pm PST

In EUROPE please call:
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All OTHER COUNTRIES call:
1-250-383-6864
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Thank you again for your interest.

Sincerely,

Order Department
Trafford Publishing

Rosa Parks--May She Rest in Peace

Rosa Parks smiles during a Capitol Hill ceremony where Mrs. Parks was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal Tuesday, June 15, 1999, in Washington. Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man sparked the modern civil rights movement, died Monday Oct. 24, 2005. She was 92. (AP Photo/Khue Bui)


My comment:

Rosa Parks died yesterday of natural causes in her home at the age of 92. I remember studying about her in school, and reading about her in newspapers, though I was really almost too young to remember the actual event that propelled her into national fame.

I always admired her courage, and wondered if I would ever have the guts to stay seated in those times had I been in her situation. I always thought she was an attractive, intelligent woman when I heard her speak, or read about her. She did not plan to be famous, but she handled it with grace.

She had simply done what she felt needed to be done at the time. I doubt very much that she EVER anticipated the outcome of her one-woman stand! But she had courage to act in spite of what fear she may have had at the time.

She reminded me of Harriet Tubman (The Underground Railroad) in some ways, though her fame was not at all the same.

God bless you, Rosa Parks! May you rest in peace!

Productsforgood.com

There are a few songs (well, if I am honest, a LOT of songs... grin) that move me to near or full blown tears. Two for my kids are Lee Ann Womack's "I hope you Dance" and Rod Stewart's "Forever Young" have messages that I have tried to teach them. Elton John's "I'm Still Standin' " has a personal message for me, mostly in the refrain. And there are others, Christian, patriotic... I can find them in nearly every genre of music. (Shocked myself to find that I have even found ONE in Rap! "Can I Live" by Nick Cannon.)

But one that has had tremendous impact on many people, especially since 9/11, is
Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA". Though I have always liked his singing, his songs, that one has a special place now, more so than it would have ever had before the terrible events of 9/11.

This morning, I am continuing to listen to Fox News in the background while reading , because I realized that I was not going to be able to sleep just yet(when you work second and third shifts in one week, sometimes doubles, your schedule gets just a little "OFF" sometimes... from the rest of the world. I don't get shook, as I am no longer responsible for a family, so I can adjust as I need to.)

One of their guests this morning was Lee Greenwood, and he was introducing a way to help raise funds for the families of our fallen Servicemen, and explained how these items came about. They are made by disabled Americans, who benefit also as a result.

You can read about the project here, and see the shadow boxes that are made to hold one, two or four Iraqi coins that are no longer worth anything in Iraq, as Saddam decommishioned them after the first Gulf War. They are uncirculated coins. SO, if you are into coin collecting, history, helping others, or shadow boxes themselves, look into this website.

They have already done good in Iraq when purchased for their citizens. Now, they can help our families, also.

God bless!

Oregon

Sitting here, almost ready to turn off the TV after having worked a hard second shift tonight, I am listening to Fox News on Cable in the background, and Bill O'Reilly has two different sets of interviews, which at least for the moment can be viewed by clicking on the video section on the right hand column of the page.

The first was two men representing "Gentlemen's Clubs" discussing the latest Oregon Supreme Court decision that struck down a state law regulating live sex shows, and another that regulated the behavior of nude dancers that was a local ordinance, citing freedom of speech and freedom of expression. And of course, the ACLU lauded the decision!

The second was a former Seattle police chief, Norm Stamper, author of "Breaking Rank", who says that illegal drugs should be legalized and regulated. O'Reilly pointed out that this has failed in other countries where it has been tried.

Oregon is also the only state which has assisted suicide laws as part of its claim to fame. And just look at the Netherlands for the results of that!

I would like to know where anyone gets the information that ANY of the leaders of our American Revolution, writers of our Declaration of Independence, and our Bill of Rights, etc ever envisioned ANY of the above when they were building this country.

Long ago, when they began to speak about legalizing gambling, we had not long before been diagnosed as having a family disease of alcoholism, an addiction that affects not only the alcoholic, but the entire family, co-workers, and friends of that person in adverse ways. In discussing the 'benefits' of legal gambling, other family members, in favor of it, stated that it would bring in a LOT of money and lower taxes.

I said... it will make people who would NEVER gamble now because it is illegal, feel ok about gambling. In the process of doing that, we would see gambling addictions increase, and then more families would be destroyed by divorce and poverty. And I HIGHLY doubted that our taxes would ever be lowered. I was pooh-poohed and mocked.

I was right. There are many places online that can give you stats, if you want them, but this one, though from 1997 is typical. And I personally know six marriages that have ended with bankruptcy, divorce and the resulting devastation on spouse and children! Lying in order to get the spouse to sign second and third (and one had a small FOURTH mortgage) on the house, bills not paid, groceries not bought, credit ratings in the pits for YEARS for the one addicted AND the spouse. Two of my friends ended up having to pay off the mortgages because the addict had no money, and they got 'awarded' the bills! Others lost the homes that they'd owned for many years, ending up living in a trailer (old one) and hitting every place that could be found to try to 'hit the big one', spending money that they did have, avoiding former friends and family.

As to legalizing drugs, surely anyone with common sense can see that the same thing will happen. AND, if that isn't bad enough, those getting the drugs will be younger and younger all the time.

NO? You say that won't happen?

Have you ever worked in a gas station with a mini store that sells beer and cigarettes? Have you ever seen people purchase either or both, exit the store and quietly hand the package to waiting underage kids outside the store? I have. So has my daughter who worked in a grocery store and had to have a bartenders' license to sell the beer and liquor products they carried. So have many others.

Have you ever seen a carload of kids brought into the ER, some dead, some dying, some hurt critically (and at times, the passengers in the OTHER innocent car that they hit?) with very high blood alcohol levels even though each 'child' in that vehicle was underage? Some even only 13 or 14? I have. So has any Doctor or Nurse who has ever worked in a hospital. So have Coroners/Medical Examiners/Police.

And you think that legalizing drugs in this country won't have the same result? Not only will people who would NEVER use them when illegal begin to do so, automatically increasing the number of potential addicts, but many will also buy and supply those same kids who now want cigarettes and beer.

My middle daughter lost a close underage friend at one of those underage teen drinking parties out in the country. The OLDER brother bought the booze. The YOUNGER brother passed out by a tree, and no one noticed... until much later, when someone thought he looked 'funny'... 'blue'... and they could not get him to wake up. And he had no pulse, was not breathing. So instead of just calling an ambulance (what? and get everyone in trouble???) they 'wisely' put him in the back of a truck, and while careening around corners and curves, over rail road tracks, etc at a high rate of speed, some others 'attempted' to do CPR in the bed of the truck. They failed.

He was young. Too young to drink legally. He was on a ventilator for quite awhile, because his mom could not accept the fact that he would never wake up. He could not breathe without that respirator, and his bodily functions were shutting down. She finally had to say good bye to him. And then the police, through investigations, learned that it was his older brother who'd supplied the liquor that he had drunk to the point of coma and death. And the family had to deal with that, too.

What is going on in Oregon? In our country as a whole? Where is common sense? This is not 'FREEDOM' we are talking about. This is "LICENSE".

Freedom vs. License: From Father Corapi's teachings we learn the following: Freedom and fear are at war. Freedom is not, "being able to do whatever you want to do." That is license. If you have license, rather than authentic freedom, your house is built on sand and will collapse. Authentic freedom is the power to do what we ought to do; the power to choose the good, the true, and the beautiful. That will vanquish fear every time. If your concept of freedom is really license, fear will come out on top every time. Freedom has to be united with truth. There is no freedom outside of the truth: No authentic human freedom outside of the truth. "If you are truly my disciples, you will abide in my word. You will know the truth, and the truth till make you free." True freedom is rooted in God.

Blessing the Grave Of Terri Schindler Schiavo

God bless you!
Fr. Frank

Blessing the Grave

I recently had the privilege of blessing the grave of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, who
was murdered on March 31, 2005 by dehydration. Her grave is not far from the place
where she died, and where people from around the world had gathered to protest and
pray.

Those who visit the gravestone, however, will notice something highly unusual. While
on most graves there is an inscription of two dates - when the person was born and
when he or she died - on Terri's there are three. Here's exactly what the grave
says:

Born December 3, 1963

Departed this Earth February 25, 1990

At Peace March 31, 2005

The whole world knows that she died on March 31, 2005. National and global media
were present at the scene for days, covering every detail. Media were present again
when I preached at her funeral mass. We know when she died.

But her gravestone has become a pulpit for the euthanasia movement. Those who killed
her are now using her grave as a platform for their twisted ideology. What they are
trying to say is that once her brain was injured in 1990 and she was no longer
functioning like most of us, she wasn’t one of us anymore. She "departed this
earth." 

This is actually a variation on an ancient heresy, which says that we are really
spirits inhabiting a body. Terri couldn't communicate normally. So, her "spirit"
must have left her. The body was just a shell left behind. Those who believe she
really "departed this earth" in 1990 can therefore pretend it was OK to kill her in
2005. After all, it wasn't really her. She was already gone.

This is heresy, because Christianity teaches that we are a unity of body and soul,
not simply a soul "using" a body. The body matters. What we do to the body, we do to
the person.

Moreover, the gravestone inscription is a deep insult to all who are disabled, and
to all those who love and care for them. Should they be considered already dead,
too? Are we just wasting our time caring for them? Euthanasia advocates would have
us think so.

A recent news story about a disabled unborn child quoted one as saying, "There's no
human life there." Isn't that the same idea? They think the baby has already
"departed this earth," so they don't hesitate to abort the body.

As I blessed Terri's grave, I also prayed that God's people would be kept safe from
this falsehood. And I recalled being in Terri's room the day she died. I remembered
her face, dehydrated from not having had a drop of water in two weeks. I recalled
seeing the flowers, inches away, on her night table. They were immersed in water.
And as I left the grave, I gave a final glance to the vase of flowers that was
standing by the stone. 

[Note: Personal notes of condolence for Terri's family can be forwarded to 
Terri@priestsforlife.org, and Fr. Frank will deliver them.]

This column can be found online at:
www.priestsforlife.org/columns/columns2005/05-10-24blessinggrave.htm

Remember to support our work at www.priestsforlife.org/donate/

Comments on this column? Email us at mail@priestsforlife.org, Priests for Life, PO
Box 141172, Staten Island, NY 10314; Tel: 888-PFL-3448, 718-980-4400; Fax:
718-980-6515; web: www.priestsforlife.org

Bendiciendo la Tumba

A thank you from Cheryl

The Gman 61 (July 22, 2006)

Could not answer your email, as I got a mail daemon back from aol saying:

Service unavailable, and Mailbox is full.

Sorry. I did try to answer you.


It saddens me to send this update. I know another family who has now lost both parents (my children's grandfather passed away on Oct 12, and grandma passed away just a few years before.)

It is hard to lose a parent. I cannot imagine what it is like to lose both, as my Mom has survived my father since 1987.

Cheryl, I am so very sorry that this has happened, and that you have lost her so young, relatively speaking! I will be keeping you and yours in prayer.

October 24, 2005

Dear Friends:

I will be away for another week, or so.

Even though I have not had an opportunity to open each and every email I have received,...I will soon. In the meantime, I wanted to thank you all so much for the prayers you have sent for my mother and my family.

It's been a terribly tough and emotional week since my Mom's accident on the 14th of October.

Yesterday, on Sunday, October 23, 2005, my mothers physicians

decided to replace the nasal endotracheal tube she had inserted last Friday with a percutaneous (neck) tracheostomy. The nasal tube had given her a terrible case of sinusitis. The reasons they had initially placed the nasal endotracheal tube and hooked her to a ventilator, was precautionary. They had been trying to prevent a potential obstruction of her airway, in the event the hematoma had enlarged that had developed behind her C2 neck fracture.

The hematoma, however, was slowly being absorbed as we had hoped and prayed for. Despite the 5 broken ribs, broken arm, broken neck, the halo traction and need for partial assist of a ventilator to prophylactically maintain her airway (as described above), she was progressing and fighting for her life. A life she loved. She was alert and was even trying to mouth words around the (soon to be removed tube) on her way down to the OR.

The insertion of the percutaneous trachea was to be a minor procedure. In fact, zero mortality percentage. However, something, went wrong in the OR, and yesterday, on October 23, 2005, at 11:05 AM PT my mother took her last breath and died.

My mother, age 75..had been in excellent health all of her life. Her face never had a wrinkle on it. She loved her simple lifestyle of helping friends, and spending time with my younger sister, and my sisters new baby, Mia, age 2 yrs old.

My mothers totaled car had only 5000 additional miles since the day she purchased it five years ago. Over all, my mother was a person who loved her local lifestyle and caring for her three dogs.

The accident which took her life, happened only 2 miles from her home when a man named, Martin Ruano Gonzalez, age 48, of Las Vegas, Nevada ran a red light at an intersection at a high rate of speed. His vehicle broad-sided her vehicle in the passenger door. They tell us the impact launched her car 60 feet from point of impact. He, did not have a registered vehicle, or an insurance card at the time when he walked away from the accident uninjured. According to the new Nevada law passed in July, Gonzalez will now find himself in jail on vehicular homicide. I am confident that the attorney's we have, will do everything to see to it that he remains behind bars for a long time to come. Sadly, none of the overwhelming grief of her tragic loss nor his jail time will bring her back to us.

In any case, I share all of this with you ...because I hope to bring awareness to the kind of accident that took her life. I ask you to please always pause for a brief second after the light turns green before crossing into an intersection on foot, or in a car. You never know what could be coming, in spite of your right away.

Most importantly, always remember to tell those who you care about on a daily basis just how much you love them. Life is indeed very short.

Now that both of my parents are deceased, the reality of just how little time I had with the two people who brought me into this world has hit me square in the face like a 2X4. It's a tough reality, but one, we all at sometime will have to confront.

Thank you again for your caring emails and concern. Words cannot convey just how much your letters and prayers have meant to me.

Inhale the beauty of Life~

Cheryl Ford RN

www.Fight4Terri.com

Read This, as Dave says, In All Seriousness....

I am blog-hopping again tonight. The sad part of that is that often, I am not sure how I end up at one, as I open so many different windows that I can't always trace it back. I am in the process of attempting to do that now, so that I can thank the person who sent me to this one.

I think that I started out on Thrown Back, and then went to the Catholic Ragemonkey. I always read comments, too, and I am sure that it was from there that I went to this blog, and started to read.

Though I may have hit several others in the process, I did end up at Dave Town, and did find this very intriguiging post. Needless to say, I read it, in all seriousness, and I pass it on, while thanking Dave:

READ THIS

Saturday, June 18, 2005

Just read it. In all seriousness, read this.

posted by Dave