Asunción, Paraguay, Mar 5, 2009 / 01:22 pm (CNA).- The Paraguayan Catholic weekly “Cristo hoy” published the moving story of Carolina Ramirez who, like Eluana Englaro, has also been in coma for 17 years, after being injured in a car accident in 1991. Her mother says their faith sustains them and that her daughter “is the most beautiful thing I could have.”

When Carolina, or Carol, as her friends and family members affectionately call her, suffered her car accident she was studying accounting at college. She was very athletic and often spent time at the gym. Every day since she fell into a coma, her parents have been at her side thanking God for her life.  They find the reasons for the death of Eluana in Italy to be incomprehensible.

Carol’s mother Ketty said their faith is what sustains their lives.  “My daughter is the most beautiful thing I could have.”  “I feel especially chosen by the Lord,” she added. Although her daughter will never be normal again, Ketty is grateful for the 21 years she was able to spend with her daughter and for the guardian angel that today watches over her.

“I don’t know what the father of that girl was thinking to make her die. The last thing I am going to do is choose euthanasia,” Ketty said in reference to Eluana Englaro.

Maria Celeste Solis, Carol’s friend, remembers her to be somewhat introverted, very intelligent, athletic and simple. “Carol has a special charisma that draws people to her. She was very quiet, but when she spoke she made us smile,” Maria said.

Archbishop Pastor Cuquejo of Asuncion told Cristo hoy, “The teaching of the Church holds that taking a life for humanitarian reasons is not a solution. The Lord always gives us his life. He shares our life with his and only He can take it at the time when that human life can no longer continue on this earth.”

The archbishop also reiterated that God alone is the Lord of life and that in these cases the family needs to stand by the patient “until the end, with tenderness and affection, because we don’t know how much he or she might be feeling all of this. Perhaps he or she does not want to let go of that affection and closeness.”

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