St Petersburg Beach, FL 33706

or to:

Terri Schindler Schiavo

Woodside Hospice 

6774 102nd Avenue N

Pinellas Park, Florida 33780

Schiavo's story has garnered national media attention recently and an outpouring of support from around the world.

The Florida woman, severely disabled and barely able to communicate for thirteen years, has been the subject of a legal dispute between her parents and her husband as to who should determine Terri's care and whether she should be allowed to die.

On October 15, a court order allowed Michael Schiavo to have his wife's gastric feeding tube removed. The tube was the sole medical device keeping Terri alive.

Six days later, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush prompted the state Legislature to pass Terri's Law, which ordered the tube to be reinserted.

The timing of the family's request for support on Terri's December 3 birthday is crucial.

Her court-appointed guardian is expected to recommend in early December whether Terri's gastric feeding tube should remain or be removed, allowing her to die.

Terri Schiavo is the daughter of Bob and Mary Lee Schindler of St. Petersburg Beach, Fla. Mary Lee Schindler is a 1959 graduate of the former Northside High School in Corning.

They have argued their daughter is not in a vegetative state and has never been allowed the rehabilitation and medical treatments that could improve her condition.

They and their son-in-law are embroiled in a bitter court battle over guardianship of Terri.

Tammaro said his family believes his niece has not received proper rehabilitation in a decade. Terri's husband would not allow it, he said.

"There's never been any real indication that Terri can come out of this because nothing's been done for her," Tammaro said. "There's so much that can be done ... She'll never be the Terri of old, but she can be helped."

There's a fair amount of speculation as to how Terri fell into a coma in the early morning hours of February 25, 1990. Doctors have suggested a potassium deficiency led to her illness.

Tammaro said her medical records were sealed and her family has not been allowed to see them. [Does this arouse ANY suspicions about Michael Schiavo? It certainly SHOULD!]

But information surfaced recently that Terri ... had several broken bones when she collapsed, and a criminal investigation is being conducted, Tammaro said.

Inconsistencies in Michael Schiavo's story lead them to believe [that] Terri suffered some sort of abuse before her death.

"That's why it seems more and more there is a deep, dark secret that could come out if (Terri) ever got to a point where she could speak again," Tammaro said.

No charges have been filed [yet].

While [some] doctors have classified Terri's condition as a persistent vegetative state, her family argues she does not meet Florida's criteria for that classification [and other doctors are adamant that -- with the therapy that her 'husband' has denied, she'd come a long way back, recovery-wise.].

Today, Terri's eyes follow helium balloons as they drift across her room. She laughs at her father's corny old jokes. She puckers up for a kiss when her uncle visits.

"To report that there is nothing going on there is completely false," said Claudia Tammaro, Terri's aunt.

The outpouring of support expressed in thousands of letters and nearly a million hits on the Web site http://www.terrisfight.org has been a boost to Terri's spirit, her aunt said.

Early on, Terri showed signs of progress and she even attempted to speak. Without stimulation or rehabilitation of any kind, she has not progressed since.

Michael Schiavo is now engaged to another woman and has two children [possibly three, as there are as yet unconfirmed reports that he pays child support on a child born SINCE his marriage to Terri.]. He refuses to relinquish guardianship of Terri to the Schindler's, Tammaro said.

The family cannot simply sit back and let Terri die as her husband wishes, Michael Tammaro said. They cannot let go of her without trying to bring her back, he said.

"If over the last ten years Terri [had been] given rehab [and] therapy ... I think there could be some kind of satisfaction that they had tried to do something," Michael Tammaro said.

"But she's never been given a chance. She's laid there, day after day, with no help of any kind."