Many of us may have read the story of a little girl, Hannah Jones, from England who refused a heart transplant. This life saving operation was refused because the little girl has spent the majority of her life in and out of hospitals and simply wanted to be home with her family - regardless of the risk she is taking.
Social services tried to remove the girl (13) from her family, in order to force her to have the surgery and were recently turned down for the removal and the girl has since been home with her parents and siblings.
As a parent, my first reaction was that yes, of course she should be removed and forced to have this surgery! Anything to save a child - anything! And isn't she too young to make this decision anyway?
Upon further reflection, I looked at it through her eyes, not the eyes of her parents. Being a parent makes this a hard task!
Diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 4, and later with a heart condition, she has endured surgery over and over again (close to a dozen times) and also suffered through cancer treatments, including chemotherapy. She has spent most of the last 8 years in hospital.
Authorities demanded her parents take her into hospital and they refused. Social services were ordered to the girl's home to interview her and left, fully accepting her decision that she was just too tired of all the medical procedures and her decision that it was all "too much trauma".
There is no definite timeline for this young lady. She may be fine, or she may die from lack of a heart transplant.
Alternatively, the procedure of the transplant, and recovery, could also kill her.
For more on this story, click here: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iAVcnV_Jed6S0pu_tX3S13Ah7bZgD94D0RKO0
For more information on heart disease, click to the American Heart Association here : www.americanheart.org
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Do you think this girl and her parents made the right decision? What would you do if you were the parent of this child?
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What a wrenching story. What a horribly difficult decision to make.
I have to think that a parent who has watched their child endure chemotherapy and all those surgeries has a good sense of the child's mental capacity and level of maturity. So many ill children seem to have a wisdom beyond their years. I'm reminded of little Mattie Stepanek, who was so very disabled and yet accomplished so very much in his short life. Some children like that seem to have spiritual access to almost a different plane of comprehension about what's worthwhile in life. Especially when compared to their peers, who at 13 are just thinking about clothes, school and boys, and haven't had to make life-altering decisions yet.
To take a child away from a family signifies to me that being with that family in some way compromises the safety of the child. If these parents hadn't helped her fight this hard for this long, perhaps that argument would have more teeth. But they've seen her through the hardest of times, and now they are accepting what has to be devastating to them -- the possibility that her decision may mean she is with them for less time. Clearly, they are hoping to get her some better time, by letting her be with family and friends. They are letting her live instead of fighting for more life.
I don't know what I'd do. I think it must depend on every child, and every parent, and what they know about one another Thirteen is certainly too young to have to make a decision like that, but I have to have faith that the parents want her to live more than anyone in the world does, and they are standing by her. Through their tears, I'm sure. It would be hard for me to not say, "No, you're having the surgery and that's that. When you're 18 you can decide for yourself." I don't know if I'd have the ability to let her decide.
Perhaps she'll fool all the experts and be just fine. My fingers are crossed.
November 14, 2008 - 9:25amThis Comment