From Mr J. Gaffarena

Eluana Englaro was an Italian woman who had been in a deep coma for 17 years, kept alive by machines, and fed only liquid substance. Her life was terminated a few days ago.

To be honest, I had never heard of this unfortunate young lady; only her father and relatives lived by her bedside for the past 17 years.

No Pope, Vatican or government officials, or anti euthanasia protesters ever visited her and tried to comfort her family, but when everyone of them learned about her father’s wish to remove the feeding tube that kept his comatose daughter alive, all hell broke loose and they began a campaign to let her keep on living the rest of her life in a vegetative state.

In my humble opinion, this is the most bizarre egoistic opinion coming from people that only see one side of our life, and do not care about the suffering of the patient and her family.

What am I living for if I cannot enjoy life? What life was she enjoying, existing for 17 years in a bed showing no signs of life? Why did these people want her to remain in that state forever?

The Vatican called the wish of her father abnormal. I tried several times to come to a conclusion about this abnormality, but I’m sure that what was abnormal was the way she had been living these last 17 years.

For 17 years her father saw only a daughter without any sign of life and hope, not a sign that someday he would hold her again and walk out of that hospital with her.

Why do we find such people interfering with our life? I have several times witnessed the agony of a person with a terminal illness, getting worse day after day, and seeing relatives in a state of sadness; they have been advised that there is no hope, that they have to wait days and months in this agony until their loved one takes his/her last breath.

Why, in these circumstances, cannot we ease the pain of both the patient and his/her relatives, why do we have to go on with this agony for months? Everyone knows that when a patient has no hope of recovering, the treatment he/she receives is more of an experiment rather than the release from pain.

Eluana, wherever you are you are now at rest. Your father after all these years has fulfilled your wish. You paved the way for us, and I’m sure that in time no one will interfere with our life, and close this episode forever. You are in heaven now, but others wanted you to remain in limbo.

Joseph Gaffarena

SANTA LUCIJA