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FORMER NEW YORK Times editor Bill Keller and his wife, Emma, both caused controversy when they criticised a terminally ill cancer patient.
The subject of their ire was not anything that Lisa Bonchek Adams had done, more what she had tweeted. Adams has around 14,000 followers on Twitter and has tweeted updates all through her battle with the disease.
The upsurge in sites such as CaringBridge have made the process of keeping friends abreast of your health a more public affair.
It isn’t always public, however.
When Kerry-born Denise Horgan went to Duke University Medical Centre in Durham, North Carolina earlier this month, her mind was on the procedure she faced.
Having cystic fibrosis, she was about to undergo a lung transplant, an operation that would completely change her life.
However, having made friends across the globe, Denise wanted to be sure that they could be kept in the loop about how she was doing.
With many friends across the world and her parents not using Facebook much, Denise enlisted her friend Cris Dopher.
Cris, who had his own lung transplant in December, keeps his friends updated with his progress through his own Facebook page and did the same for the ten days that Denise was in a medically-induced coma.
“They have sites for updates for patients, but I didn’t see the point. Everyone I know is on Facebook so we just went with that.
“A lot of people are very thankful to be kept in the loop. In Denise’s case her family aren’t on Facebook much, so this was a help I guess.”
Of course, the updates weren’t all positive, but the key was knowing where the line of privacy was.
” I try not to get too specific but keep the line honest. As a patient I know where the line is.
“I kept it to major milestones, such as walking or getting tubes out and other setbacks.”
Cris says that he was happy to do the updating, but is hopeful that Denise will be able to resume Facebooking herself.
“Denise will surprise us and come on line soon. Denise doesn’t have a voice yet and her frustration is really very clear. But, you can’t be in a coma for 10 days and not get weak.
“She is an amazingly strong individual and I would have lost my shit 20 times over at this stage. Anyone else would have lost it by now. She has so much grace.”
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It was a mistake to give him anything
@Barry Somers:
The mistake is how they will fail to spin this.
They need to get childish.
Call him President Climbdown, President Shutdown, President Treason – anything to provoke him. Do that enough and he’ll lose it. Just need to swing 5% of moderates.
@Brinster: so tell lies.
@Barry O’Hanlon: None of those would be lies.
@Barry Somers: it’s probably just a refurb of existing picket fences.
@Brinster: it’ll work too. He refused to hear the details before going on stage in El Paso. That way he could bluster on while not being 100% sure he wasn’t getting the wall
You couldnt build a hospital for that amount…
@Eoin O’C: Lol
@Eoin O’C: president trump would with change too.
Why? Don’t you think that a country has the right to protect its borders?
@Michael: yes it does but this wall won’t protect them and it’s bad value for money (to put it mildly). It’s also going to cause environmental havoc in the local ecosystem. Bad idea all round.
@Michael: Not everyone wants a hard border, in case you hadn’t heard.
@James Wallace: How will it cause environmental havoc?
The wall will protect the border, it’s not just a barrier we’re talking about, Cameras, sensors and infrared.
@MinMin: It will go right through areas filled with wild life. How can it not cause environmental havoc??
@MinMin: “The wall is not just a barrier.” And so begins the spinning of his failure to deliver.
They should build a massive 40ft high wall around Trump.
Wait for it….Orange Man Bad :-I
@PC Principal: And by the way, his approval rating is now at 52%. Even Democrats are coming around
@PC Principal: proof?
@Craig Clancy: it was a poll done by right wing pollsters.
@PC Principal: … in one poll that has consistently overstated his support. His average approval is 40%
@PC Principal: Worst trolling ever. Stop being silly.
@Paul Furey: Sorry to have to correct you. “The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday 11th shows that 52% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance.”
http://www.rasmussenreports.com, hardly a pro trump polling company.
@Paraic: that’s from January 17th. Nice try though.
@Shane Dignam: Ehh, it is actually.
@Dr. X (Official Continuity Faction): It is what?
@Shane Dignam: a polling company that consistently overestimates Republican support, ie is pro Trump.
@Shane Dignam: that’s the one I was talking about.
@Shane Dignam: sorry but you could at least get it right. Your link says 50% approve and 37% strongly approve while 40% strongly disapprove.
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/rasmussen-reports/
This’ll be the same deal grom last november. Never any need for the shutdown
He will spin it as a win. And his zealots will believe him.
@A2 Poster: The Dems will spin it as a win and their zealots will believe them. Meanwhile the Dems are contributing more funds to the wall/barrier,- they’re no longer sitting on the fence.
We need a Trump
@Denis Doyle: We need a Trump with a brain cell
The art of the deal in action, form President “executive time”
Border security settled for the same 1.3Bn Pelosi offered him before the shutdown. All that mess for nothing.
So I guess you can keep half the illegals out now? Or how does it work.
have your say