PHOTOS/MEGAN BERNER
A MATTER OF
life &
death It’s the not knowing that makes life so difficult for Ramsey Farley’s parents by D. Brian Burghart brianb@newsreview.com
Ramsey Jackson Farley just turned 7 on June 16. He may not live to 8. Or he may make it much longer. That’s a fact his parents accept. He’s going to die. We’re all going to die, but most of us had some kind of chance to live before we died. In many ways, Ramsey was denied that.
Ramsey and his mother, Tami Gardner, left, and his stepmom Jamie Farley.
Nobody knows exactly when or how Ramsey will die. Not his parents, not the hundreds of doctors and nurses he’s seen. He’s got a disease that has no diagnosis, has apparently never been described in the medical literature. It’s that ignorance that makes every moment bittersweet. Not to be maudlin, but it’s a bittersweetness we should all probably experience with our loved ones. Life is short, and the difference between 8 years and 80 years in comparison to eternity is the wingbeat of a gnat. Nobody dies healthy. “This is what scares me,” says his mom, Tami Gardner. “The worse thing about it is he’s sits there with drool in his mouth. We don’t know if it’s going down the wrong tube [into his lungs]. He doesn’t feel it. He could literally die in front of us, he could drown, and we wouldn’t even know it. … Why would you send a child away who could drown on his own spit? Why wouldn’t you keep him there, put him in Ramsey’s dog, Lucy, sits on his lap.
OPINION
|
NEWS
“LIFE OR DEATH” continued on page 12 |
GREEN
|
FEATURE STORY
|
ARTS&CULTURE
|
IN ROTATION
|
ART OF THE STATE
|
FOODFINDS
|
FILM
|
MUSICBEAT
|
NIGHTCLUBS/CASINOS
|
THIS WEEK
|
MISCELLANY
|
JULY 5, 2012
|
RN&R
|
11
