FLORIDA NEWS 27
November 2020 www.thefloridacatholic.org
34TH ANNUAL CULTURE OF LIFE CONFERENCE
Couple fought, knowing 'every single day is a gift'
Above is a screenshot from Kristen Hanson's presentation at the 34th annual Culture of Life Conference. It shows J.J. Hanson, left, at the beginning of his cancer battle. To view the presentation, CLICK HERE. MAURICE BEAULIEU
of the Florida Catholic staff
ORLANDO As the second de- cade of the 21st century rolls for- ward, states become more divided on preserving human life. Current- ly, eight states (including Washing- ton, D.C.) allow assisted suicide - a physician-aided agreement to end a patient's life based solely on the patient qualifying for death under state law. Florida is not one of those eight states, and pro-life advocates hopes that status remains. It was one of the topics discussed when the Diocese of Palm Beach Respect Life Office hosted the 34th annual Culture of Life Conference. Work- ing with the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops and other dioc- esan directors of respect life offices, the event included 11 sessions that raised awareness of a plethora of social concerns. Due to COVID-19, the 2020 conference was held via livestream, and can be viewed at any time through YouTube (CLICK HERE to be taken to the page). Among the many informative lectures was a heart-warming and passionate presentation showing the value of preserving life and why assisted suicide in America symbol- izes a nation of potential hopeless- ness.
FIGHTING WITH HOPE
Kristen Hanson spoke fervently on the subject by sharing her per- sonal experience. As a conference lecturer and community relations advocate for PRAF (Patient Rights Action Fund), Kristen had wit- nessed her beloved husband, James Joseph, Jr. (JJ) endure several years of brain cancer. She expounded on the importance of keeping hope alive. Although her husband suc- cumbed to cancer in 2017, his voice was heard during the presenta- tion - "Warriors of Hope: Fight- ing Against Assisted Suicide in America." At the beginning of her presentation, Kristen showed two short videos of her family that were filmed before JJ passed away. The couple discussed their ordeal and what kept them from losing hope. We were living, what people would consider is, the American dream," JJ had said in the video of the time spent with his wife and then-infant son, James. "May of 2014, I started to feel, what felt like, a deep anxiety attack and I knew something was wrong with me be- cause it kept getting worse. At that point, my ability to speak began to go away." After a visit to the doctors, the Hanson's discovered JJ was suffer- ing from an aggressive form of brain cancer - glioblastoma multiform (GBM) - on his left temporal lobe. JJ was 33 years old. Because of the particular placement of the cancer- ous tumors, doctors were hesitant to operate for fear of doing dam- age to JJ's brain, such as losing the ability to speak and comprehend language. Physicians told JJ he had roughly four months to live. In his best-case scenario, maybe a year. In that moment, time stood still," Kristen said of her panic. "I couldn't breathe. Everything went silent except for the pounding of my heart." But the couple urged one anoth- er not to give up hope. JJ surpassed that four-month mark by more than three years before his death. As the two family videos were broadcast, conference attendees could see a thumbnail photo of Kristen in the upper-right hand corner. She was watching the video just as conference visitors were. The first family video was about six min- utes in length. The end of the video shows JJ and Kristen sitting togeth- er looking at one another. Kristen is heard saying, "I'm more in love with you now than I ever thought possible." Every single day is a gift, and you can't let that go," JJ said. As those words are spoken, view- ers can see Kristen wiping the tears in her eyes. The experience of losing her husband is still raw, yet she con- tinued to watch and share the next almost four-minute video where her husband only had weeks to live. His voice sounded different, his body was affected by his illness. But they continued to state how they had to hold on to hope." You cannot think about as- sisted suicide in one situation. You have to think about who it could hurt. - The joys we have experi- enced in these last three and a half years are too many to count, and if we had given up hope we would have missed out on so much," she said before echoing her husband's words. "Every moment we share to- gether is a gift."
TREATMENT
Back when first diagnosed, the couple were initially presented with awake" surgery where the operat- ing doctors would ask questions to JJ to test his cognitive functions while they removed the tumors, the Hansons - who resided in New York state - sought a second opin- ion at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York City where JJ has family. With the help of JJ's fam- ily and friends, they landed him an immediate meeting with the chief of neurosurgery at Sloan. The neu- rosurgeon removed the two tumors and found a third smaller tumor. JJ's recovery started off well. But later that week, he had difficulty speaking and answering questions. Suspecting JJ was having sub-clini- cal seizures, Kristen convinced the doctors to perform an EEG (electro- encephalogram). She was correct. JJ had a total of 10 seizures since his operation. Bouts of radiation and chemo- therapy followed. "We enrolled him in a clinical trial and thankfully, JJ went into remission for almost two years."
ASSISTED SUICIDE
While the history of euthanasia and assisted suicide in America dates back to the late 1800s, its re- surgence emerged in the 1960s and 1970s with a wave of support. Or- egon, home to a movement encour- aging assisted suicide since its first presence on its political ballots in the early 1990s, legally established assisted suicide in October 1997 with the Death with Dignity Act. During that time, a brain can- cer patient, Brittany Maynard, 29, gained notoriety for her infamous decision to end her own life in No- vember 2014 through assisted sui- cide methods. I remember when we first saw (Maynard) on T.V., we could see so clearly how her story was being glamorized to perpetuate a mes- sage of hopelessness," Kristen said. JJ looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, 'Kris, if I had suicide pills with me in my nightstand a few weeks ago, I might have taken them. And you can't undo that. This is so dangerous for patients like me.'" Knowing that the fight was long and arduous, yet never backing down, JJ took initiative to publicize his story. "JJ connected with the Pa- tient Rights Action Fund and a few week later, PRAF came to capture our story," Kristen said. Eventu- ally, JJ was asked to helm PRAF as its president, "leading the national fight against the legalization of as- sisted suicide."
GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS
The following year was "one of the happiest of our lives." JJ's cancer went into remission and his health had improved greatly. "It was dur- ing that time that we allowed our- selves to dream of the possibility of having more children." However, in late October 2016, JJ's cancer reemerged. An experi- mental drug was offered to JJ, but allowed only with the consent that they wouldn't get pregnant because of possible birth defects. "My heart broke as we signed those docu- ments," Kristen recalled. "But we knew that we had to do it." In the latter half of 2017, JJ's new therapy wasn't working as expect- ed. Yet, the family, which inlcuded a new baby, chose to enjoy life and whatever time they had together rather than turn towards death. JJ chose to fight against the able- ism that permeates our society and our medical system, and which has perhaps its most deadly expression in assisted suicide policy," Kristen said. JJ knew the campaign that pro- motes assisted suicide is strong be- cause it appeals to people who are in their most susceptible state. He made his wife "promise that after his death (Kristen) would continue sharing our family's story to protect the vulnerable against the threat of legalized assisted suicide."
DANGEROUS LEGISLATION
Kristen ran through several ex- amples why assisted suicide con- tinues to be problematic. Beginning with the physicians themselves, she noted that "doctors make mis- takes." To ensure a proper diagno- sis, patients should seek second or third opinions before surgery and any actions that will follow. The time allotted by a doctor should never be taken as solid. "(JJ) was only given four months to live and lived almost four years. I have met numerous other GBM patients liv- ing five, 10, 20 years out following their diagnosis." Insurance companies deny care and offer "a cheap death instead," Hanson said. Health care providers may view the amount of time and money it may take to ensure care for a patient will outweigh the impor- tance of an individual's life, making a counteroffer for assisted suicide that will save them funds in the long run. "When faced with the choice," she asked, "do you think insurance providers will do the right thing or the cheap thing?" Oregon patients hoping for health care were instead sent letters from the Oregon health plan denying them coverage for the life extending treatment that their doctors were requesting for their cancers and instead they were of- fered assisted suicide." Kristen continued, "Pain is not the reason patients end their lives by assisted suicide." When a person chooses assisted suicide, it is typi- cally out of "existential suffering or disability related concerns at the end of life, such as fear of being a burden to friends and family." The presence of assisted suicide policy sets up a discriminatory sys- tem that determines who may live and who may die. "This insidious form of ableism results in death to the devalued group and nothing could be more discriminatory." Mental health conditions often go ignored and patients struggling with depression receive the medi- cation." If such legislation existed confirming JJ suffered from a men- tal disorder while residing in New York, "he could have requested the medication and he could have got- ten it and he could have had it on his nightstand." During his fifth month of can- cer treatment, JJ had considered assisted suicide, though he didn't tell anyone. But when he pondered death, he had asked his wife: "Am I too much of a burden to my family? Is this worth it? Would it be easier for everyone if I just ended my life?" Severe depression is common among patients in such situations, clouding their minds from mak- ing positive decisions. "These laws abandon vulnerable patients like JJ who can experience periods of depression at any point following their diagnosis." Patients like JJ, are (hardly) ever referred for psy- chological evaluation." Yet, Kristen regards JJ and others like him as "warriors of hope." What makes life here on earth so valuable is that it doesn't last for- ever. What makes it precious is that it ends. We couldn't save JJ's life. But we can continue to share his story and help to save other lives. We can advocate for better access to truly compassionate, multi-disciplinary care at the end of life for everyone, not just the privileged few. We can be warriors of hope in an all too of- ten hopeless world."
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To learn more, visit www.pa- tientsrightsaction.org. To watch Kristen Hanson's presentation from the 2020 Culture of Life conference, visit www.youtube.com/channel/ UCZnSOb6KJou60ocbDLZigNQ
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