Don't give up
by Jon Sherman
Don't give up.
That's what Margaret Logan of Titusville would tell the parents of Florida's Terri Schiavo.
"If I could talk with Terri's parents in Florida," Margaret said, "I would tell them to never give up and give them all the encouragement and support I could."
Schiavo, who is severely brain damaged, is in the midst of a legal debate over whether her husband has the right to have her feeding tube removed. Her husband claims it was Schiavo's wish to die if she was to ever be in her current condition. Schiavo's parents want their daughter's care to continue, citing reactions from their daughter as hope she can recover. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush used recently passed law to keep Schiavo's husband from removing her feeding tube.
Severely injured in an auto accident more than 20 years ago herself, Margaret and her husband, Doug's, daughter, Virginia, is very much an integral part of her family today. She lives at home in Titusville, exercises, swims, goes to the theater and rides horses. Much of the credit for the progress Virginia has made can be attributed to her parents. Margaret, a retired high school English teacher, said she has devoted oceans of time to Virginia.
There are some major similarities in the cases of Virginia and Schiavo. Both spent long periods of time in comas. In Virginia's case, it was more than a year. Both the Logans and Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, faced legal difficulties with their sons-in-law. Both daughters were the victims of severe brain damage.
In February 1982, Virginia was 29 and married. She and her husband at the time were living in Lordstown, Ohio. On that February night, the car the couple was riding in struck a utility pole. On impact, Virginia was thrown from the car, her head striking the metal door frame.
Doctors told the Logans Virginia had suffered a closed-head injury with frontal lobe damage. But that wasn't the only fight the Logans faced. They had problems with Virginia's husband, as well as the way the Ohio law was written.
"In Ohio," Margaret explained, "everything is controlled by the husband; the woman has no rights in this kind of situation."
This meant if the husband didn't want the Logans to visit Virginia, no permission would be given.
Doctors told the family Virginia would survive the accident, but not leave her coma. Margaret took this as a challenge, facing the problem and learning everything possible about it.
While her daughter lay quietly, Margaret began Virgina's rehabilitation by reading books, the first of which was "Ashes in the Wind." Doug did his bit by reading "Uncle Wiggly."
All the time, Margaret would address Virginia's silent, blank face and say, "If you know who I am, squeeze my hand."
Margaret recalled, "I may have been imagining it, but I would swear I could feel her squeezing my hand. You become so grateful for every moment of growth."
When the two of them were together, Margaret talked all the time.
"A lot of it was babble," she said, "nonsense, but I wanted her to know there was somebody there who loved her."
The breakthrough came when Virginia was in a nursing home. Not expecting anything out of the ordinary, but carrying through with her policy of constant talking, Margaret asked if Virginia would like to be wheeled upstairs to look at the fish in a tank at the doctor's office.
"OK," Virginia replied.
Only this and nothing more.
It made Margaret's day.
"I called everybody we knew that I could think of and had them ask Virginia a question that could be answered with 'OK'."
There were sometimes long gaps between outbursts of speech, but there always was progress. Today, Virginia's speech is perfectly understandable.
In one corner of the Logan home is a cross-lateral machine. This device simulates walking by moving the legs. Virginia spends up to two hours a day on it.
"It makes me tired, but it doesn't hurt," Virginia said. "I get energy from it and it relaxes me. It just makes me feel better."
Margaret commented, "Now, she can talk. Even if she has to go to a nursing home, she'll have an advantage over some of the others because she'll be able to talk and respond. She has a quality of life."
Virginia's sister, Jayne Logan, a nurse, considered the progress Virginia has made and reflected, "This is a perfect example of what a mother's love can accomplish."
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