[A-List] Donna Stainsby on the air

["Charles Brown" <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 6/6/07, Macdonald Stainsby <mstainsby@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: 

	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 


Thank you so much, Macdonald, for posting the story of your mother.
Will listen to the interview!
--
Yoshie

^^^^

You have good reason to be so proud, Macdonald.

Charles