{"id":5999,"date":"2013-11-11T08:32:56","date_gmt":"2013-11-11T13:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stonescryout.org\/?p=5999"},"modified":"2013-11-10T21:59:47","modified_gmt":"2013-11-11T02:59:47","slug":"everyone-thought-we-were-a-bit-mad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/?p=5999","title":{"rendered":"“Everyone Thought We Were A Bit Mad”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meet Simon Fitzmaurice, an Irish filmmaker who chose life in the face of certain death<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Ruth Fitzmaurice watched as the<\/span>\u00a0consultant, a man they had never met<\/span>\u00a0before, entered the hospital room and made his way towards her husband\u2019s bed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Simon, a talented filmmaker and the father of three small boys, lay there with a tube going down his throat, pushing air into his lungs, allowing him to breathe but preventing him from being able to talk.<\/span><\/p>\n

They listened as the medic spelled out in no uncertain terms what he expected them to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018He basically announced that this was the end of the road,\u2019\u00a0<\/span>explains Ruth. \u2018That was it, they had done all they could – that he had phoned Simon\u2019s own consultant in Beaumont Hospital who agreed that ventilation for Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is not advocated in Ireland.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

The consultant continued, telling Simon that it was now time for him to make \u2018the hard choice\u2019 – to agree to come off the ventilator.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Simon was not going to give up that easily.<\/p>\n

Despite the consultant\u2019s stark and very clear recommendation, Simon refused to grant permission to take him off the machine that was keeping him alive.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Simon\u2019s family very much think for themselves, and Simon in particular is a very strong character,\u2019 smiles Ruth. \u2018He wouldn\u2019t be fazed by being told what to do by a doctor, he would question things and say: \u201cHang on a second.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018The consultant told us if he stayed on the ventilator that he wouldn\u2019t get out of the hospital. With MND [a degenerative condition that destroys the cells that control voluntary muscles and can affect speaking, walking, breathing, swallowing and general movement] it\u2019s like, \u201cwhere do you think this is going? You\u2019re only going to get worse. Why would you choose to ventilate?\u201d So that\u2019s when we decided to fight.\u2019<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not only did they decide not to take Simon off the ventilator they went a step further by deciding to have more children (they already had three when they received his diagnosis). They ended up having twins.<\/p>\n

\u2018Everyone thought we were a bit mad,\u2019 laughs Ruth. \u2018But we felt in the face of death and with everything that had happened, well, kids are the ultimate opposite of all that, they\u2019re life-affirming.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But that’s not all. Simon also went on to finish a script that he had been working on for a movie he will direct starting next year.
\nRather than accepting a death sentence, Simon has chosen to go on living life to the fullest possible. It’s a beautiful picture of what it truly means to choose life. Be sure to read his entire story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet Simon Fitzmaurice, an Irish filmmaker who chose life in the face of certain death: Ruth Fitzmaurice watched as the\u00a0consultant, a man they had never met\u00a0before, entered the hospital room and made his way towards her husband\u2019s bed. Simon, a talented filmmaker and the father of three small boys, lay there with a tube going […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,275,12],"tags":[998,146,997],"class_list":["post-5999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-healthcare","category-tom","tag-mnd","tag-pro-life","tag-simon-fitzmaurice"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t