NASHVILLE, TN. (www.annesharp.com) - The Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation (www.terrisfight.org) today announced that celebrities Mel Gibson,
Patricia Heaton,
Randy Travis and Pat Boone have issued a fervent plea to reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.
Actor and director Mel Gibson, known for his role in the movie 'Braveheart' and his recent international success 'The Passion of the Christ,' said, 'I fully support the efforts of Mr. & Mrs. Schindler to save their daughter, Terri Schiavo, from a cruel starvation. Terri's husband should sign the care of his wife over to her parents so she can be properly cared for.'
Actress Patricia Heaton, star of 'Everybody Loves Raymond,' and Honorary Chair of Feminists for Life, said she is outraged. "We must not let Terri Schiavo be starved to death. This deliberate and painful destruction of a woman's life cannot be justified or tolerated. Terri deserves better.
Removal of a feeding tube will result in a slow starvation that is cruel and painful. She is not in a comatose state and she is not suffering from terminal disease. Terri may no longer be perfect or complete but she has a fundamental right to life. Her feeding tube must be re-inserted.'
Country music star Randy Travis made an appeal on Terri's behalf, saying, 'I would like to lend my support to the Schindlers in their efforts to save their daughter. All life has value. I'm praying Terri's feeding tube will be reinserted. I feel this decision was wrong, deciding the fate of an innocent person's life by starvation. May God lead the powers that be to reverse this decision and give Terri her life back.'
Recording artist and actor Pat Boone spoke from personal experience. Three and a half years ago, Boone's grandson Ryan Corbin fell 40 feet through a skylight to a concrete floor below. The fall resulted in the need for multiple surgeries, including the removal of Ryan's spleen, and left him in a deep coma, on maximum ventilator support, and unresponsive to outside stimulation. 'I pray that Terri Schiavo is saved from this horrific death by starvation and dehydration, and afforded the opportunity to live and receive rehabilitative therapy, ' Boone said. 'Ryan was in a coma for six months, but through lots of prayer and loving attention, all kinds of therapy and support, and with his own indomitable ‘can do' spirit, he's steadily recovering to what we believe will be complete normalcy.'
Pat Boone's daughter Lindy Michaelis, mother of Ryan Corbin and sister to Debby Boone, popular music artist known for her '70s hit "You Light Up My Life," concurred. 'I am extremely supportive of the Schindlers, who simply want to keep their daughter fed, alive and love her. I believe that although Ryan may have said prior to the accident that if something like this ever happened to him he would rather go ahead and die, if you ask him today, he loves life, and is glad we didn't let him be unplugged when we were offered the option. I see a love between Terri and her parents and where there is love, there is purpose. Her life serves a purpose. I hope the public raises an outcry that shames Michael Schiavo and his attorney for what they are willing to do, and that her feeding tube is reinserted.'
Australian-born recording artist Wayne Galley, who wrote an inspirational song entitled 'Terri's Song' among others on his 'LIFE' CD on behalf of Terri Schiavo, reminded supporters that, 'Terri is still alive. Now, more than ever, we must come together in prayer and in spirit to demand Terri's feeding tube be reinserted.'
Cheryl Ford, R.N., nurse advocate for the Terri Schiavo Foundation thanked the celebrities saying, "On behalf of Bob and Mary Schindler, we are extremely grateful for the outpouring of support we have received from Mr. Gibson, Ms. Heaton, Mr. Travis, Mr. Boone, Ms. Michaelis and Mr. Galley. We remain extremely hopeful that justice will prevail and Terri's feeding tube is reinserted."
The Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation is the official organization responsible for speaking on behalf of the Schindler family. For more information, please visit the foundation's website at www.terrisfight.org.
