Truly inspirational
“Inspirational” is a word that’s way overused, but it’s appropriate for Victoria Arlen. She shows true grit—and what a beautiful girl, too.
I can’t seem to figure out a way to embed these videos, so I’ll just send you to the website to watch them. It’s worth the trip.
Very moving. I had known nothing of her. Thanks,
Jim
I cannot get Victoria off my mind. I fell in love with her. But I am not sure I am glad I ever heard of her. Her life and what she has done are truly moving, at least for me.
However, her life has cost millions, probably tens of millions of dollars. Along the way much of her care would have seemed to be end-of-life care. No rational plan for using medical resources that are not unlimited could countenance that kind of expenditure in the face of the slim odds of success. And medical resources are not unlimited. Furthermore, her medical costs in the future are liable to be quite high.
Yet, who among us would have ended the care–or say now that it should have been stopped millions of dollars ago?
Jim
Great kid and great family.
What a story! Miraculous that they found a doctor who diagnosed her problem before it was too late.
Her drive to succeed is inspiring. With her physical problems it would have been easy to just kick back and take it easy.
Many of us don’t think about the days, weeks, and years that athletes put into grueling work to achieve their best results. When we see them perform we don’t get to see what’s behind it all. And we pay way too much attention to the winners. The also-rans have worked long and hard, too. Without them pushing there is no competition, no need to work so hard, no need to excel.
May she live long and prosper. With her work ethic and positiove attitude that’s certainly possible.
Powerful. Thank you Neo.
As a matter of curiosity, I looked it up. According to a quick GOOGLE search, the average cost of a nursing stay for a person in a persistent vegetative state is $40,000 to $100,000 per year.
If you take the most expensive one of those and TRIPLED it for EACH of the six years since she fell ill, it wouldn’t come to $2,000,000. That tripling would be less than a penny from each American TOTAL for the whole six years.
But it hasn’t cost anywhere near that much, and she didn’t spend that much time in the worst condition. Moreover, catastrophic illness is one of the places where individual charities and communities of people can shine, when they are allowed to use their resources intelligently.
You are right MMM.
I worked on a case where a brother had conservatorship on his brother and ducked dunning. He wanted the money in the estate. Pretty understandable. His brother was essentially dead but kept alive. He’s dead now. It cost $1 million to even place him in a comotose state since he had sustained injuries from a vehicle accident. Then, it took about $150,000 per year just to maintain him.
The “maintenance” facility was not getting paid. But they had to care for him, by law. So they went after his estate. Understandable. Wasn’t their fault. And then didn’t because our probate and other applicable laws aren’t set up to handle the new fact that a person can be kept alive well past what even that person would probably think is reasonable. So, essentially, his property should have gone to medical providers.
What do you think “the vegetable” would have stated?
It’s a tough one, because the vegetative state has many forms. Most people, most family and relatives, end up asking for more life, but I think a consensus is forming that prolonging non-thinking life is wrong. Life is precious, but so is death. Death makes life precious. See the incomparable Jet Li in “Ocean Heaven.”
Now, does this mean that Law is relative. Not at all. Law is governed not by exigencies but by immutable priciples (aka “declarations:” Instructive how “declarations” and “injunctions” by attorneys and judges, respectively, are a cornerstone of law. Kind of like we are immitating Someone.)
And we will find our way. Always have. Always will.