Macdonald intro:
For those of you who don't know, I left Montréal almost two years ago
now literally overnight to go home and deal with a mother who had
suffered a brain aneurysm and resultant frontal lobe damage. She was not
supposed to live through the night when I arrived, then she did (she
never has taken orders from anyone), we were told she would never make a
full enough recovery to take back her life. Many events along the way,
including fighting a health system that would rather subsidize a fate
worse than death, locking her in a home and more, and then she was
almost fine-- fighting her way through a debilitating brain injury. I
took her home and told the system to bugger off, and we went about
recovery at her apartment where she belongs.
Now, she is living her own life, making her own decisions and is back,
more than ever before, reminding me why I am so damn lucky and
privileged to be her son. I have moved away to Edmonton to work on
tarsands politics, and talk with her several times a week-- she is
proving the victory of life, chances taken, and the defeat of defeatism.
Now, there are many other people fighting similar battles, with all
sorts of experts telling them not to try and do this or that, to accept
that they are "special" now, and generally taking away their
independence. A friend here in Edmonton was working on a radio show
hosted by a stroke survivor about the dangers of the system set up to
help the brain injured. My mother graciously was willing to do an
interview and is a part of the struggle for a world of dignity again. If
you want to hear the words of a true survivor and fighter, it's to be
live online:
it will air 5pm mountain, 4 pacific and 7pm Eastern Thursday June 7 on
http://cjsr.com ... go the site a few minutes early as you may need to
install some add on. It will also be available for download afterwards
if you cannot listen live.
Love you mom!
Macdonald Stainsby