Mark Pickup's latest blog

Read the latest blog by Mark Pickup about the seminar "SEARCHING FOR MEANING IN SUFFERING: A Christian perspective" at http://markpickup.org

The tyranny of Canada's socialized healthcare

Danny Williams (60) is a self-made man. He was a multi-millionaire long before becoming Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. Williams loves Newfoundland. He only takes a salary of one dollar a year as Premier. Under William's leadership, Newfoundland has transformed from a a depressed have-not province to an emerging place of promise -- thanks, in part, to well placed off-shore oil and gas. He has compassion and toughness in defending the rights of Newfoundland.

Last year Williams developed heart disease. He decided to seek heart surgery in the U.S. at his own expense (leaving the the provincial loonie he's paid annually in his pocket.*)

Friends of Medicare, the liberal Canadian media, and other defenders of Canada's universal healthcare system were outraged that Danny Williams did not patiently wait for his turn to have surgery in Canada. With the usual shrill indignation of Canada's socialist elites, they said Williams had some explaining to do when he got back to Canada! No he didn't.

I did not think he had any explaining to do whatsoever. Surely a man can spend his own money the way he wants! How are his decisions about his money anybody's business but his own?

Recuperating at his Florida condominium, Danny Williams was interviewed by Canadian media. "I was warned by my staff that this could be an issue," Williams said. "But this is my heart. It's my health and it's my choice." In short, Danny Williams thumbed his nose at his socialist critics. Good for you Mr. Williams, good for you.

The very media and government elites who tout "choice" when it comes to abortion decry a man's "choice" when it comes to his own life.

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE IN AMERICA
I can imagine if Obamacare becomes law, Obama would eventually appoint a Czar to oversee it and gradually strip away the private option to ensure there are no queue jumpers, no two tier healthcare -- one for the rich and another for ordinary people.

In the end, Americans could find themselves with a tyranny of socialized medicine -- just like Canada. Beware of the path Barack Obama and the Democrats take America!Does America really want Canadian style healthcare with its crippling debt by government mismanagement resulting in long lines waiting for necessary surgery, hospital bed closures and cutbacks in diagnostic imaging. Yet abortion on demand is funded -- unscrutinized and no questions asked -- regardless of whether taxpayers object? Think long and hard my dear American friends. Think long and hard.

Think of Danny Williams and imagine a place where a man's own money is up for public debate.

Mark Pickup

*The Canadian dollar coin bears the image of a loon. It's known as the loonie.

A reasonable request for Baby Isaiah -- and his parents

The case of baby Isaiah will be heard again today in an Edmonton (Canada) courtroom. As you may know, Baby Isaiah May was born October 24th 2009 after a difficult 40 hour labour. His umbilical cord was wrapped around his throat cutting off oxygen to his brain. He was born brain-damaged and has been in a coma and respirator dependent since then. Doctors in charge of his care want to remove the respirator while his parents want 90 days more to see if their baby will improve. They sought a court injunction to keep the respirator in place.

Justice Michelle Crighton has asked for the testimony of two medical specialty perspectives: An independent neonatologist and a independent pediatric neurologist.

Regardless of Baby Isaiah's prospects, I pray that Justice Crighton will do the compassionate thing and grant the 90 day window for Baby Isaiah to be on the respirator. Not only will it give an opportunity for him to improve, but it will give a needed opportunity for his young parents to prepare themselves for either a special needs baby or prepare for his death.

Baby Isaiah is not the only person requiring care. Ninety days is necessary, reasonable and compassionate for all parties involved. I hope Justice Crighton understands this and grants the 90 day repreive the May family has requested and need.

Mark Pickup
HLM

Trusting God

Below is the second part of LaRee Pickup's presentation (see previous entry for part one).


We needed a house that would allow Mark to move about without a struggle, a home that would take us far into this disease – and further if necessary. Where the MS would take us, we did not know. We had to trust God.

My prayer was two-sided. I always had a deep longing for permanence, a place to call home. As a child I was moved from pillar to post (37 times throughout Canada). Every year I attended a new school; I didn’t want my children living like gypsies. There was nothing I wanted more than a stable HOME, a permanent address and an apple tree in the back yard. The Lord knew this had been my deepest wish.

And so, in 1987, God answered a need and a wish. He provided us with a wheelchair accessible home in Beaumont, Alberta, just down the hill from the Catholic church. During difficult times of MS attacks Mark seemed to find solace sitting near the apple tree and looking up the hill at the old church and listening to the sound of its bell. It seemed to draw his heart closer to God.

Our home has become a meeting place for family occasions.

Every August we gather in the backyard to pick apples from the tree. What a special blessing God has given to me! All I needed to do was trust Him. God enveloped me with His love in such a way that I don’t need a Superman husband. (I must admit though, when I hear a noise in the night, I send Mark in his electric wheelchair whirring into the darkness swinging a cane to protect us from the bogeyman.) What more could I ask for?

I am convinced that the Lord has allowed the MS to continue so that we grow spiritually and learn to depend upon him completely.

Do you want to know something else? I think we’re going to have a bumper-crop of apples this year.

I am convinced that love is the only thing that really matters.

LaRee

The pain of watching a loved-one degenerate

Recently my wife LaRee were in the Canadian province of Manitoba to deliver an address about suffering. I delivered the perspective of someone with a degenerative, incurable disease. She gave the perspective of a loved-one watching the degeneration occur. Below is part of her address. More will follow in the coming days:

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"IT'S EASIER TO BE THAN TO WATCH"

Mark lives with the real symptoms of aggressive, degenerative multiple sclerosis, which have their limits. I am left to witness it all, ― and imagine. Imagination has no limits. That is why I believe it is easier to be than to watch.

Despite countless trials love has prevailed. But love is like the two sides of a precious coin. The two sides of love are this: It is life’s greatest ecstasy but also the cause of life’s greatest agonies and anguish.

The 19th Century writer, Victor Hugo said, “To love or to have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life. To love is a consummation.” -- And so it is.

Yet as a wife, mother and now a grandmother, I want more, and I ask further.

I want to protect those I love from pain, emotional hurts, disappointments, and even life, as it ends, — but I cannot. So often I sat at the bedside of suffering loved-ones and prayed, “Lord give me their pain” – as though there is some quota of suffering to be filled which I can bargain over with God. There is not.

Romantic love begins with a glance and a hello and ends in tears of goodbye at life’s conclusion and separation – or it should. Life begins with the agony of childbirth but is quickly forgotten by the power of love. Such is the love for a mother for her children.

When Mark and I married, he was so healthy and active. For the first eleven years of marriage he was a super-achiever not only in his career but with family life. After being diagnosed with MS, his career stalled and he was often too sick to participate in family activities. Our children were 7 and 5 when Mark was diagnosed with MS. They had difficulty understanding why their Dad could not play and be active like he used to be.

At the time that Mark was diagnosed, I didn’t even know what MS was. I had no idea of the impact it would have on our future. And so I began to research the medical literature and even visited a few auxiliary hospitals to see if I could pick out the people with MS. I noticed the canes, the crutches, the wheelchairs and scooters, the van contraptions and curb cuts. Multiple sclerosis meant disability! I looked into the faces of loved-ones of patients with MS and wondered if I could face the heart-break and hurt.

My initial reaction was anger. It was irrational but my immediate response was anger. How could Mark do this to me? How dare he get sick!

He was supposed to be the strong one. I was the weak one. “Damn you!” I thought. If one of us was to get sick, it should be me. I could cope better with disease. Mark was the one with the most energy. I could accept this much more easily if I was the sick one. I could just slink away from the world, it would be okay. I was angry, sad, and bitter but most of all,... I was afraid.

I wanted to correct the fate God allowed by trying to convince Him he made a mistake. Mark could raise the children, remarry, and go on with life.
“I can’t do this!” I cried. “I cannot sit back and watch this Lord.” I pleaded with God to give me the MS.

Mark’s faith was stronger than mine, his personality stronger than mine, his body was stronger, his upbringing stronger. His ability to make a living was better than mine. Couldn’t God see that?! I was so angry with Mark and GOD! I felt cornered and so let down.

Mark’s MS started changing him. I began to gauge the distance between benches in shopping malls when we went shopping in case he needed to sit with exhaustion. I started fearing places with crowds. He might get impatient and I would see that look of frustration on his face.

Then one afternoon I looked on in horror as my husband began to crawl up the stairs in our bi-level house so he could go to the bathroom. I realized our life had changed and I had to make some decisions. The first decision I had to make was whether I was prepared to stay in the marriage.

Many times Satan told me that there was an easier way out. “You’re still young. The kids would get over it,” He whispered over my shoulder. “You can start over like many other women after divorce.” The temptation continued: “You can get help from other family members. They will understand.” Even people at my work asked why I was staying with Mark. (?)

It did not take long to realize I needed to get serious with God and ask for his hand if I was going to jump on the wild MS rollercoaster ride. My first prayer was to ask for a wheelchair accessible home so we could begin our new life TOGETHER: God, Mark and me.

Children viewed as punishment corrupts human hearts

In 1994, Mother Teresa was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying:

"America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts -- a child -- as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters." [My emphasis added.]

Fourteen years later, confirming Mother Teresa's assertion that abortion fosters anti-child hostility, Barack Obama said "If [my daughters] make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby." A mentality that views inconvenient babies as punishment is common in 21st Century North America. It is a form of internal violence that can corrupt the human heart at a most primal level.

No baby should be ever be viewed as punishment or unworthy of love, nurture, or burdonsome -- regardless of the the circumstances revolving around how or when they were conceived. Every life should be viewed as a gift and valuable.

If North America is as enlightened as they believe, then surely we have room for every child, not just those who are convenient.

Which view of children do you want? Mother Teresa's inclusive value of all children or Barack Obama's selective value given to only some children?

Both Mother Teresa and Barack Obama received Nobel Peace Prizes. Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 after more than 30 years working with the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. Obama received his Nobel Peace Prize in October 2009, after a mere 9 months in the White House for his vast accomplishments, doing, -- well, er, not much. Who deserved the Nobel Prize more: Mother Teresa or B.O.?

The greatest defender of peace is the person who defends the weakest, the most vulnerable, the unwanted, the speechless, the defenseless -- always and everywhere.

Children as punishment ... what a despicable attitude.

Mark Pickup
HLM

Show your support for Baby Isaiah and his parents!

See - http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Baby+Isaiah+stays+life+support/2490599/story.html
"Baby Isaiah stays on life support for now", Edmonton Journal, 27 January 2010.



As you read in my last blog (see below), Canadian parents Isaac and Rebecka May of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, are in the throes of a life and death battle for their three month old baby Isaiah James. He was born oxygen deprived and is ventilator dependent. Doctors at the Stollery Children's Hospital in the provincial Capital city of Edmonton want to turn off Baby Isaiah's respirator which will result in his death. Rebecka and Isaac want 90 days more to see what progress Isaiah will make. Let's be clear, they are willing to accept the terrible prospect no parent wants to face. They simply want to exhaust all possibilities their baby might be able to live. And so they went to court to get an injunction to allow Baby Isaiah 90 more days. That's not asking too much; if they must live for the rest of their lives having lost Baby Isaiah, let them have the consolation that every avenue and chance -- however remote -- was given to their little one.

Yesterday, Court of Queen's Bench judge Michelle Chrighton asked for more expert medical opinions about Baby Isaiah's case and gave the May's lawyer until February 19th to find a pediatric neurologist to lend an opinion about Isaiah along with an indepenent neonatologist Dr. Richard Taylor.

Rebecka and Isaac established a Facebook page for Baby Isaiah called "Prayers for Isaiah". More than 25 thousand people of good will have become members offering their prayers and encouragement to the Mays. I encourage readers of this blog to do the same (and invite their friends to send notes of encouragement). Offer moral support to this courage young couple fighting for their baby Isaiah James May. Let's double that number and show the Mays that 50,000 of their closest friends stand in solidarity with them!


Regardless of how things turn out, I want people of good will everywhere to send a short note to the Mays and let them know the world stands with them in their struggle. If Isaac and Rebecka must face the death of their baby boy, we stand with them in their grief. If Baby Isaiah is to live, we stand with this family in their joy regardless of any special needs he may have. Where there is life, there is hope.

You can also send a short letter or card of support to: Rebecka and Isaac Mays, c/o Ronald McDonald House, 7726-107 Street, Northwest, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6E 4K3.

Alert all your friends, and thank you.

Mark Pickup