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June 26, 2005

Iraqi Family Struggles To Care For Family Member In 'PVS' State

And so begins the living story of a family in Iraq that we will be covering in a series of posts:

In Babylon, Iraq, a bomb explodes at 1:30 in the morning, the electricity goes out, and the family of a severely disabled woman diagnosed as being in a PVS state - begins using hand-held fans to keep her cool and comfortable. During the daytime, when temperatures soar to 120 degrees and higher, and when the electricity goes out as it frequently does, they take her out of their house to the garden so that she can be kept as cool as possible.

Unlike Michael Schiavo, who didn't live in a war zone under constant threat of death, and who didn't personally care for his wife day after day and night after night with bombs exploding nearby, and who fought to have his wife killed by judicial fiat instead of doing everything in his power to keep her alive and comfortable - Sabah Jasim and his children struggle under difficult and often dangerous conditions to care for Selma, his wife and the mother of his children, and to keep her alive. And unlike Michael Schiavo, they don't consider food, water, and personalized loving care, as extraordinary medical procedures.

This proud Iraqi family has to struggle every day to endure the agony of living under the threat of terrorism and the lack of proper medical equipment and drugs, while they care for Selma, pray for her recovery, and challenge death each day with their love for her.

Persecuted under the regime of Sadaam Hussein, both Selma and Sabah taught English in Iraqi schools until they were forced to hide from Sadaam and his agents. Tragically, they struggled greatly under Sadaam and survived to suffer yet again under a medical system that is barely able to care for both victims of terrorism and those needing ordinary medical and surgical care. Life today in Iraq is a hard life for those that are perfectly healthy, but for the severely disabled and those that care for them, it can be a struggle to live from one moment to the next.

So, feeling as though they had no where else to turn to, Sabah emailed BlogsForTerri asking to be put in touch with Terri Schiavo's family, her real family - the Schindlers, in order that his family be encouraged by their prayers and expression of support for what his family is enduring.

In later emails, Sabah asked that BlogsForTerri help to let others know of his family's plight, and about their need for drugs and medical equipment to care for Selma and to keep her alive. After talking with Bobby Schindler, it was agreed that Bobby would email Sabah at the time of this posting, and together, we would begin to help get Sabah's message out to the world. Sabah wants to continue caring for Selma, but he needs our help.

Sabah writes that he is one of many Iraqis that love peace, that hate the poison of terrorism, and appreciates the sacrifices of the Coalition Forces and the American people.

"We have suffered much to get our country recovered from Sadaam's horrible dictatorship and to get our country more like other countries in so many humanitarian causes, just to keep terrorism back and not die in its poison .. that is why we Iraqi people can realize our all sacrifice for better life and better world."

Perhaps with a little help from bloggers and their readers, we can help get the word out about Selma and with a little luck, find some ways to make their life a little easier.

In the extended post are images of Sabah and Selma in happier times and now, Sabah's original email to BlogsforTerri, and excerpts from a translation of Selma's medical report(full versions on file at BlogsForTerri. More information on the family's exact needs will be made available in a following post.

Posted by Richard at June 26, 2005 2:37 PM