Los Angeles, Calif., Mar 2, 2005 / 22:00 pm
A disability-rights activist, who was once dependent on a feeding tube and considered “a vegetable” by medical professionals, has joined the fight to save Terri Schindler Schiavo and hopes to visit the 41-year-old disabled Florida woman by mid-month.
Kate Adamson suffered an acatastrophic brainstem stroke in Los Angeles in June 1995 at the age of 33, which left her in what is now being called “a locked-in state” for five months. She was totally paralyzed and unable to communicate, but she could see, hear and feel and she was fully conscious, like Terri.
While doctors said Adamson could not be saved, her husband insisted that she receive rehabilitation therapy and treatment, unlike Terri’s husband, Michael Schiavo, who has denied his wife treatment for more than a decade.
Now, at 43, the mother of two is fully functional, except for some paralysis on the left side of her body. She tours the country to tell her story and speak about the sanctity of life. Adamson believes the campaign to defend Terri’s life has a large impact on all of society.