President Obama’s health care plan consists of regulations that would “help” to euthanize the old and “brain dead.” However, we must stop and think to ourselves, “What is brain death and is it really death enough for the miserable victim to not count as a precious life in God’s eyes?”

Brain death is defined as “the irreversible end of brain activity.” However, over the years, many people have witnessed that this so- called “death” of the brain is not always irreversible as doctors may make it seem. Most often brain dead patients are brought into operating rooms and his or her organs are distributed to those in need. No one knows, nor can imagine, if the victim feels torturous pain during these rough and brutal operations. After all, the patient’s heart remains beating and the doctor may be inflicting much agony upon these poor souls.

Many miraculous stories further point out the fact that time and again this damage done to a person’s brain is not always so irreparable. For instance, the story of Rom Houben illuminates this point beautifully in a way that has touched and encouraged many Pro-Lifers.

Rom Houben was born in Belgium. He lived relatively normally and probably enjoyed what every average person appreciates in life. However, at the age of 23, this ordinary man’s life was brought to a sudden halt in the year of 1983 when Rom became a victim in a horrendous car accident.

Rom was paralyzed and non-responsive to anything or anyone. After a slew of tests, his doctors deemed his consciousness non-existent. They declared him to be in a vegetative state and that he was “brain dead.” Rom says, “I screamed but there was nothing to hear.” He remained in this so-called vegetative state for 23 years and was repeatedly misdiagnosed and mistreated. Yet, through all this time, his family  never pulled the cord, donated his organs, and never gave up hope  that maybe…just maybe their beloved family member would return to  them as they once remembered him to be.

This fact especially strengthened Rom’s spirits. He said that he felt, “alone, lonely, frustrated, but also blessed with his family. All that poor Rom could do was hope and pray that one day he would be discovered to be actually alive and well.

Then, one day, Dr. Stephen Laureys realized that this coma patient might very well be more than just a non-responsive body taking up space in the hospital. He ordered a PET scan for the long-ignored 46-year-old man. This test showed evidence of near normal brain activity. This  perfectly strengthened his theory and now, with therapy, Rom  Houben, who was believed to be brain dead for 23 years, can tap out  messages on a screen and can once again communicate with the ones  he loves that never gave up on him through all the long and  excruciating years.

 After the seemingly miraculous case of Mr. Rom Houben, Dr. Laureys is convinced that there are many cases like Rom’s. There may be many people out there who are mistakenly being treated as victims of brain death. This heroic physician and any true Pro-Lifer knows that these misfortunate souls are most certainly not “burdens to society,” as they are frequently accused of being in today’s world. Rather, they are rather a life, given by God to be offered up to Him and, eventually, to join Him in paradise.

We, as God’s children  must recognize that and support people like Rom Houben and Dr.  Laureys no matter how high the obstacles or how impossible it seems because we as Pro-Lifers must never say die and teach the world to do the same.