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Rush Limbaugh: Injured Firefighter Was Given Chance to Live (Great e-mail to Rush!)
RushLimbaugh.com ^ | 5/5/05 | Rush Limbaugh

Posted on 05/05/2005 6:20:55 PM PDT by wagglebee

RUSH: I have to read you an e-mail that I got last night in the main e-mail account, Rush@eibnet.com.

Hello, Rush, my name is Patrick Britzalaro. I am currently a battalion chief with the Buffalo fire department and up until April of 2003 I was the safety battalion chief for the Buffalo fire department. I'm very familiar with the fire that Don Herbert was severely injured in. I can tell you that firefighter Herbert was literally buried alive with hundreds of pounds of roofing debris when the flaming roof gave away. In addition to this, firefighter Herbert's only air supply, his self-contained breathing apparatus face piece was completely pinched off. That left him in full cardiac arrest when he was found and dug out from his would-be grave. In the Buffalo fire department's subsequent investigation we concluded that firefighter Herbert went ten minutes without oxygen. Now, as you know, going that long without oxygenated blood to the brain would under most circumstances leave one not only clinically dead but biologically dead. The fact that firefighter Herbert came through this is a miracle in itself. In the immediate days and weeks following this terrible incident firefighter Herbert's family was told that he virtually had no chance of recovery. The best they could hope for was that he would be in a permanent vegetative state due to the severe irreversible brain damage that he suffered. Mrs. Linda Herbert was given the option of pulling her husband's feeding tube, and after much soul-searching, decided against it. The next nine and a half years proved to be extremely difficult and exhausting for the entire Herbert family. Although most people had completely written this hero off, the Herbert family and close friends continued to pray and believe for a miracle and as we all know now this is exactly what happened this past Saturday afternoon. Just to bring you up to date, there was a press conference held Wednesday afternoon. Firefighter Herbert's doctors confirmed that over the past several years Don's condition had deteriorated to the point that he was in a persistent vegetative state.

Now, I'm reading to you from an e-mail I received from the battalion chief for the Buffalo fire department, Patrick Britzalaro, and he was confirming yesterday that in a press conference doctors said that the firefighter's condition had deteriorated to the point that he was in a persistent vegetative state. And Mr. Britzalaro says, "Hmm, where have we heard about this condition recently?"

"Thank you for your time and your great work, Rush, and all the best." I wrote him back and I agreed with him. I told him it is indeed a miracle, a great story and it warms your heart his family stuck by him and everybody pitched in, had the resources to do so. And I thanked him for thinking of me to pass this on. He sent it to me twice to make sure I would see it and get it. So thank you, Mr. Britzalaro for sending this along. I appreciate it very much and congratulations to everybody. I've seen videotape. Have you seen videotape of the firefighter walking around? He's walking around in a walker now wherever he's at, the hospital or the nursing home wherever he is, and he does have, as you can imagine in a coma after a lot of years, in the persistent vegetative state for most of that time, he has a little vacant look on his face, but he's talking. He just talked up a storm on Saturday out of the blue if you're not familiar with the story. But I mean it is, you know, you have to mention it, interesting to note, doctors said, yep, persistent vegetative state. His family was allowed to hang in with him. His family was allowed to hang in with him and it did prove to being miraculous.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: buffalofiredept; cultureofdeath; donherbert; firefighter; firefighters; miracles; prolife; pvs; righttolife; rush; starvation; terrischiavo
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You know I have yet to hear any of the vultures who swore that Terri Schiavo was incurable react to this story.
1 posted on 05/05/2005 6:20:57 PM PDT by wagglebee
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To: wagglebee

Given "change" to live?


2 posted on 05/05/2005 6:23:13 PM PDT by dc-zoo
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To: dc-zoo; Admin Moderator

Obviosly "Change" was supposed to be "Chance" it was a typo from Rush's website.


3 posted on 05/05/2005 6:26:27 PM PDT by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: wagglebee

Change of life, as in aging women?


4 posted on 05/05/2005 6:26:48 PM PDT by expatpat
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To: wagglebee

And you never will. They will ignore it like it never happened!


5 posted on 05/05/2005 6:27:14 PM PDT by Budge (<>< Sit Nomen Domini benedictum. <><)
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To: wagglebee
You know I have yet to hear any of the vultures who swore that Terri Schiavo was incurable react to this story.

How much of Don Herbert's brain was replaced by spinal fluid? Before we make the comparison, let's make sure that the cases are comparable. A substancial part of Teri's brain died, and was replaced with spinal fluid. This is apparently NOT the situation with Don Herbert.

6 posted on 05/05/2005 6:27:58 PM PDT by Hodar (With Rights, come Responsibilities. Don't assume one, without assuming the other.)
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To: wagglebee
I love the way God puts his screenplays together.

The Lord is truly, truly remarkable!

7 posted on 05/05/2005 6:42:15 PM PDT by NordP (Keeping America Great - Rice/Hughes in 2008 ! -- What do you mean, she won't run?)
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To: Hodar
A substancial part of Teri's brain died, and was replaced with spinal fluid.

You do not know that. That was the story created by those who wanted, up-front, to kill her, and those "doctors" like Cranston who want to freely kill everyone who doesn't measure up to their arbitrarily defined "quality of life."

8 posted on 05/05/2005 6:42:18 PM PDT by exDemMom (Now that I've finally accepted that I'm living a bad hair life, I'm more at peace with the world.)
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To: NordP
The Lord is truly, truly remarkable!

Nevertheless, it would have been far better if this had occurred about two months ago.

9 posted on 05/05/2005 6:43:47 PM PDT by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: exDemMom
That was the story created by those who wanted, up-front, to kill her, and those "doctors" like Cranston who want to freely kill everyone who doesn't measure up to their arbitrarily defined "quality of life."

Everyone was in on the conspiracy to kill Terri. She most likely from all accounts I read going to ever recover. Not that I wanted to see her killed but it is not a very unique occurence.

For all the fervor this story has created I hope those who are so outraged actually do something to change the laws and not just bitch about it on FR.

10 posted on 05/05/2005 6:48:22 PM PDT by PFKEY
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To: wagglebee

God does thing according to His timing. We cannot perceive why He does them or when He decides to do them.


11 posted on 05/05/2005 6:49:28 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (G-d is not a Republican. But Satan is definitely a Democrat.)
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To: Hodar

A substantial part of Terri's brain was starved for affection, stimulation and genuine love.

Terri's spirit never died - so her body was forcibly starved to death by a husband, an attorney and a judge.


12 posted on 05/05/2005 6:51:44 PM PDT by sodpoodle (The Ivory Billed Woodpecker discovered Arkansas - when HRC moved to NY)
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To: Hodar
A substancial part of Teri's brain died, and was replaced with spinal fluid.

First, what does this mean? Who replaced part of her brain with spinal fluid? Is that a natural occurrence? How did they keep that from happening to the firefighter? And how does anyone know what actually happened to Teri's brain? Do we have results of an autopsy?
13 posted on 05/05/2005 6:53:24 PM PDT by Leonard210
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To: wagglebee

We knew what you meant.


14 posted on 05/05/2005 6:53:49 PM PDT by cubreporter (I trust Rush. He has done more for this country than any of us will ever know! :))
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To: Hodar
How much of Don Herbert's brain was replaced by spinal fluid?

Before going too far with a theoretical approach on how much brain is required for conscious function, it might be a good idea to review actual findings on the matter.

In the 1960s, before surgical treatment for hydrocephalus, it was possible to observe the behavior of children who lived with as little as 1 centimeter of "cerebral mantle" because of hugely enlarged ventricles filled with spinal fluid. This is the same condition that was referred to in Terri's case as "brain replaced by fluid." It was not possible to tell the capabilities of a child simply from examining the size of the venticles or the thickness of the compressed cerebral cortex.

The idea that you can tell a person's capabilities by looking at a picture of the brain is simply unproved over a wide range of conditions.

15 posted on 05/05/2005 6:54:00 PM PDT by Marylander
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To: wagglebee
More info here: Link
16 posted on 05/05/2005 6:54:02 PM PDT by elli1
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To: Blood of Tyrants

I agree; however, it still saddens me that Terri Schiavo could not benefit from a similar miracle, but she is with the Lord in Paradise and in the end that is what matters most.


17 posted on 05/05/2005 6:54:21 PM PDT by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: cubreporter

It wasn't me! Blame Rush's webmaster, he made the mistake.
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_050505/content/eib_email.member.html


18 posted on 05/05/2005 6:56:17 PM PDT by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: Hodar
Before we make the comparison, let's make sure that the cases are comparable. A substancial part of Teri's brain died, and was replaced with spinal fluid. This is apparently NOT the situation with Don Herbert.

If he was diagnosed as PVS he could have been killed in the state of Florida.

19 posted on 05/05/2005 7:04:35 PM PDT by blueriver
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To: wagglebee

Your post #17. Maybe God wanted Terri to come home, and thus no intervention like Herberts.


20 posted on 05/05/2005 7:05:58 PM PDT by now you people out there
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