Save Baby Joseph

This is an email I sent to friends and family today:
Sending along as an FYI—many of you may already know about this and may have already contacted the Canadian officials—if not, you can follow the link in the email below mine. Priests for Life has offered to pay baby Joseph’s expenses so that he can receive proper care here in the US.

Having two boys with potentially life-threatening illnesses and knowing so many children who have been on ventilators and in critical care like Joseph, this is something close to my heart. Praise be to God for holy priests like Fr. Pavone who fight for ALL life. My children have a progressive disease—(two, really) and neither has a cure. Let me restate that—there is NO CURE for Mitochondrial disease and NO CURE for Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome. Mitochondrial disease patients often end up on ventilators because of neuromuscular deterioration. SDS patients have many complications from their disease and/or bone marrow transplants and end up on ventilators. I ask each one of you this: does this mean we should just stop treating them now because these diseases will eventually kill them? Of course not! My Joseph already has swallowing problems…. Do we just not treat the disease because we know it will progress? Do we let him continue to aspirate liquids because we know it is going to get worse, so why bother finding solutions?

Baby Joseph pulled his feeding tube out himself several times—deliberately pulled it out—the nurses and doctors tied his hands down. He responds to his parents and doesn’t like to be tickled (see videos on line) – this is not something someone in a permanent vegetative state does. My Sean had to have his hands tied and wrapped up because he kept pulling his tubes out before (long ago—he stopped breathing and had to spend time in the hospital). His parents know the disease is progressive.

While universal healthcare sounds good on the outside—the problem is that a government devoid of God ends up making these choices based on money. Joseph’s parents have been refused to allow Joseph to have a tracheotomy so he can go home with them. Doctors and the Canadian government are not allowing this precious child of God to go home with his parents to be cared for until his death—his parents know he has the same disease his sister died of years ago, they know what to expect—she lived six months after her tracheotomy in the care of her parents at their home. The Canadian government has ruled that baby Joseph must have the breathing tube (vent) pulled and he must die NOW in the hospital. You may not even agree with his parents—but it should be THEIR choice—Joseph is THEIR child, a child entrusted to them by God – they want baby Joseph to have this procedure so that he can come home with them to live for a few more months-- or years—only God knows the time Joseph has left on this earth.

Imagine yourself in their position—unfortunately, I can do it all too easily—we have had friends in this position-- we’ve known too many children who have died from SDS and Mito. Pray for this family and do more, if you are able.

Thank God Chris’ parents had the choice to send their daughter, Erin, to rehab after she spent two and a half weeks in a coma – the doctors didn’t think she was a candidate for rehab, but his parents MADE THE DECSION for their OWN child. No government should tell parents what to do for their own child. What if the decision had been up to what the doctors thought and not her parents?

God bless Fr. Pavone and Priests for Life for stepping up to the plate. We are blessed to have so many holy priests fighting for LIFE!

Blessings,

Pattie
“In some causes silence is dangerous.” ~Saint Ambrose

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From: Father Frank's Alerts [mailto:FatherFrankAlerts@imcomonline.com]

Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2011 12:56 PM

To: catholicmomof3@gmail.com

Subject: Save Baby Joseph


Save Baby Joseph!

February 26, 2011

Dear Pattie,

There's an 18-month-old baby boy in Canada who is about to be put to death by the Canadian government.

I'm writing to you today so that you can help Priests For Life save this baby's life if possible.

Here's the situation … The baby, who is known as Baby Joseph, is suffering from a critical condition that requires him to have a breathing tube in order to stay alive.

However, the Canadian government has decided that they don't want to spend any more money on Baby Joseph to keep him alive.

And, to everyone's horror, the government won't even let Baby Joseph go home with his parents. His parents need to obtain better health care for Baby Joseph by bringing him to the United States where a hospital -- preferably a Catholic hospital where the baby will NOT be euthanized.

My experience in the case of Terri Schiavo back in 2005 showed me how devastating it is when a person -- no matter how young or how old -- is put to death by the "health care" system that pretends to help the sick, the poor, the indigent, the elderly, and those with terminal illnesses.

In reality, the government "health care" system doesn't want to spend money on anyone if they can't make money on that patient.

Therefore, since the Canadian government -- because of their system of rationing health care -- is determined to put Baby Joseph to death by removing his breathing tube, we at Priests For Life are stepping up to the plate and offering to bring Baby Joseph to the United States so that he can receive better health care and possibly survive his illness rather than being put to death because of rationed health care.

You see, the Canadian government is refusing to let Baby Joseph's parents take care of him. His parents don't want him to die. They already had one child die from a similar illness, and they don't want it to happen again.

But because of the Canadian government's system of "socialized" health care, Baby Joseph is in danger. They won't take care of him. Therefore, we have to.
The first thing I urge you to do is contact the officials in the Canadian government who are holding Baby Joseph's life in their hands. All you have to do is click here and your message will be sent immediately to these Canadian officials to implore them to release Baby Joseph back to his parents so that he can get the proper health care he needs and not be put to death in the painful, inhumane method of removing his breathing tube.
The second thing you need to do is pray for Baby Joseph and his parents for a sensitive solution to this problem.
And then, third, please forward this alert to everyone on your email list!

I will keep you updated on our progress in this crucial fight to save Baby Joseph. Please keep reading these alerts and forwarding them to all your friends and family members so that the word can get out about the injustices inflicted upon little children by the Culture of Death.

Blessings,

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life
Priests for Life
PO Box 141172
Staten Island, NY 10314
Phone: 718-980-4400
Toll Free: 1-888-735-3448
Fax: 718-980-6515
mail@priestsforlife.org
www.priestsforlife.org