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Pamela Hennessy is a self-stylized freak of nature.
Glances over her pictures through the years reveal a
young woman adorned in blue dread locks, ripped
t-shirts and leather trousers. At 6’1” and with hair
that rivals Carrot Top, Hennessy is likely a bit
much to take and possibly intimidating to those who
meet her. But, Hennessy’s antics have never ended
with her appearance and those who know her know that
well. She played music in a number of local bands,
performed stand-up comedy, hosted her own television
program on the local cable company and wrote. My,
did she write.
Hennessy hosted a bulletin board system for a short
time out of her home in Madeira Beach, Florida. On
that forum, she studiously denied porn, games and
other frivolities and dedicated the space and time
to conversation – things like human rights issues
and homeopathy were of particular interest to her.
In the early years of the internet, she dedicated
time and effort into educating others about natural
remedies and nutritional alternatives to drug
therapies. Working for a natural remedy
manufacturer, Hennessy eagerly shared her knowledge
far and wide.
Never one for mainstream politics, Hennessy avoided
voting like the plague. Instead, she took her pet
causes, such as homelessness and elder care, into
plans of action. She worked in homeless shelters and
nursing homes for years because she believed in the
rights of individuals. These would be the lessons to
move her later in life.
At the age of 25 and with the guidance of a close
friend, Hennessy established the Survivor’s Group of
Pinellas, a non-profit organization dedicated to
assisting survivors of child sexual molestation and
abuse. She soon left the group to its own inertia to
pursue other humanitarian causes.
Consistently a social liberal, Hennessy is an
unlikely champion of the pro-life cause, but she has
made her presence well known throughout the life and
death battle of Terri Schiavo.
Asked why she engaged herself in the first place and
Hennessy recalls a member of her own family in a
very similar situation.
“Someone in my own, immediate family was the
recipient of enteral nourishment. I come from a
medical family and, no, I’m not a doctor – but we
just don’t consider things like this to be medical
treatment. It’s maintenance. That’s all. Just what
you do to ensure the patient is getting the basics
that they need. Saying otherwise is rather mad, in
my opinion.”
When Hennessy first heard of the Terri Schiavo case,
she mentally left it for naught. She admits to
believing the press reports, calling Schiavo
brain-dead, unresponsive and on mechanical life
support. Though she empathized with the parents,
Hennessy decided that, perhaps, they were not owning
up to reality.
That’s when she heard a radio broadcast that would
change her mind entirely.
While still working in an office environment as a
marketing director for a technology firm in Tampa,
Hennessy heard radio host Glenn Beck take a hard
bite out of Michael Schiavo’s reputation. Beck
likened Schiavo to a Nazi experimentalist and said
that there was nothing moral or ethical in starving
a disabled human being to death.
Hennessy was shocked. At no time previous to that
broadcast did she ever hear that Terri Schiavo was
anything but brain dead and anything but on
complicated life support. The fact that she received
only enteral nourishment – and that was the
deprivation in mind - was something of a fright.
Hennessy contacted the family via email and pledged
her assistance. In her first email to them, she
stated “even if all you need is stuffing envelopes,
I’m yours.”
Since those days in 2002, Hennessy has remained a
fast and unwavering friend of both Terri Schiavo and
her family as well as their webmaster and media
coordinator. Not your typical pro-lifer, Hennessy
has waged her own battle against bioethicists and
right-to-die lobbyists on her own web site.
Digging deep into the Schiavo case, Hennessy has
said “This is certainly not a right to die issue.
Terri was not dying. Not dying fast enough, anyway.
This was always and will remain a right to kill
case.”
So, what does a liberal and unconventional person
like Pamela Hennessy think the immediate remedy is?
“I cannot imagine there is anything more pernicious
than this so-called right-to-die movement. If there
was no money involved in death, you’d never ever
hear about it. I don’t see how abandoning people or
casting people aside because they have a disability
or a chronic illness is compassionate. It’s
abandonment.
“If you spent a tenth of the money that is currently
spent on exploring right to die facilitation on
quality palliative care development, these
conversations would never take place. People have an
instinctual desire to survive. There’s a reason for
that.”
Of the recent push for living wills, sparked by the
Schiavo tragedy, Hennessy had this to say:
“Don’t waste paper and ink writing down the things
you don’t want. Don’t be eager to sign your life
away. Write down the things you DO want and find
someone who will advocate for you. Our departure
from medical ethics has hit critical mass. Don’t be
fooled by the soothing rhetoric.”
Ask Hennessy what she envisions in her future and
her response is “I don’t want to see another Terri
Schiavo ever again. I don’t want to see another
Robert Wendland, Hugh Finn or Paul Brophy. I want to
see people giving to each other just like we were
raised and taught to do – regardless of what’s
holding them down. Is that so difficult? I want to
see people living their lives. Who doesn’t?”
© 2005 North
Country Gazette |
