In the movies, this is where the story should end, where the protagonist's suffering ends, and the healing begins. Instead, this is where the daily and even hourly scrutiny begins. Despite giving everything she had, Lindsey finds herself with nothing left but to suffer for the rest of her life. Although Rico is home, the demonization is far from over. Now, every 12 hours and every day of the week, Lindsey must Skype with a county employee to prove that she is administering Rico's medication. Regardless of whether they had a good or bad night, Lindsey and Rico must be ready at 6:00 a.m. to call the CPS employee, who may or may not answer, so the employee can watch Rico take his mix of toxic drugs. But if Lindsey misses the call, Rico could be taken away again.
Lindsey and the family would now have no privacy as the judge declared that "upon the child's release…Mower County Health and Human Services, home health care providers, Alice Snater (guardian ad litem) and a family facilitator will have access to the child by announced or unannounced visits."
Meanwhile, the attacks against Lindsey continued, including a particularly hurtful one on a radio talk show in Minnesota, WCCO. It was stated on the Chad Hartmann show that Lindsey's "assertion that she was not advised on taking medication to prevent transmission to her infant was bullshit." "The woman is unbalanced, and this infant should be taken into foster care." It was also stated on the show that Lindsey was "an immature, selfish person" and was tainted by Cheryl. It seemed that everyone had an opinion on the benefits of AZT, from doctors peddling half-truths to greasy disc jockeys looking for entertainment fodder.
For Lindsey, the attacks were a kaleidoscope of pain, with every waking moment becoming more intense as she struggled to keep her head above the attacks. She was being crushed from all sides. Cheryl and I were acutely aware of Lindsey and Rico's fragility, and everything we once thought was important now felt like nothingness. The only thing that mattered was survival, but it felt like a losing battle. The attacks were now taking away Lindsey and Rico's entire lives—the once uncertainty of -if- had now become the uncertainty of when. Despite everyone now home and in our arms, Lindsey felt alone and adrift, swallowed by waves of hate, fear, and uncertainty.
After finally having to admit that Lindsey had been right, doctors begrudgingly had to take Rico off the AZT as the weekly transfusions were not keeping up with the inherent deadly nature of AZT. After less than two months of being on the drug replacing AZT, Rico was back in the hospital with a rash that consumed his entire body.
On the first attempt to get care for Rico, Lindsey, and John took him back to Mayo Clinic ER where Rico was seen by yet another resident doctor who attempted to school Lindsey writing that Lindsey was "the most important factor" in Rico's recovery. The resident said it was impossible to name Rico's rash and that "A rash alone with no other symptoms is rarely harmful." She also wrote, "you should seek medical attention…[if] the rash gets worse or bigger." I have no idea what she meant by worse and bigger, the rash already covered his entire body, and his body was tender to the touch. Cheryl and I were still trying to keep the restaurant together and had not seen the rash until we got home later that night. When I saw the condition the resident had sent Rico home in, I immediately got Lindsey, John, and Rico headed back to Mayo Clinic. I then called Mayo's ER and told them the three of them were on their way, and they needed to have someone at the door waiting and to call Dr. Boyce and tell him "to get his ass to the hospital and take care of this baby!"
Cheryl's email to Lindsey's lawyer,
Scott,
The four of us, I should say five of us, are at a new low.
Rico is being wrapped up every four hours in a horrible and extremely uncomfortable position for hours at a time, while the docs decide which meds he is allergic to. [this was sent on a Tuesday] He will be doing this every four hours until at least Friday. Lindsey and John are extremely patient with these doctors, but I expect they will burst into either tears or a fit of anger at any moment. It is torture.
Is there anything we can do? It is still 2 weeks before the judge's decision. Is there any chance the appellate court will turn down the appeal? Every day Rico's health declines a bit more, and with this new experiment, he must feel terribly alone, and will withdraw even more.
Lindsey is not eating properly, and we have been worried about her health as well as Rico's.
I am sorry to sound so negative – just wondering what you're thinking, and why no one at Mayo seems to have common sense.
The very same day Rico is suffering a full body rash, Lindsey and John get the results of the two-day trial held one month earlier. The "Respondents' motion [was] denied." Judge Wellman stated, "the Court's inquiry appropriately addresses the statutory grounds." Wellman wrote, "based on past actions of the parties…Respondents will not provide necessary care in the future [and] is based on the actual deprivations of care that have occurred in the past." And exactly what were those "deprivations"? Lindsey, not agreeing to give the AZT to Rico, that by this time, has been stopped due to its deadly toxicities, Wellman declared this "withholding of medically required treatment."
Wellman's second finding was that Lindsey and John had failed to "seek treatment when the child was aspirating food and medicine" during his abduction when Lindsey was forced to give Rico all of his meds at once before the sheriff took him.
Wellman's third finding was that Lindsey had not "returned the child to the hospital in the event that he had any problems with weight gain." In other words, Rico was abducted because of the weight "algorithm" of a claimed "150 gram loss in weight" that never happened.
"Since Respondents' motion does not raise any novel issues, the motion is denied without a hearing" was the only response that Lindsey and her lawyer received for their side of the story.
can't believe it after many years I'm looking for a biological sister, she was given up for adoption by my mother, now when I found her, unfortunately, I didn't find Lindsey, my sister, I only found my adoptive father, but what I found out is hard to imagine, my sister has she was simply killed by doctors from America, she screams at the sky, someone must be punished
So beyond evil and you always wanted to do the right thing. Vengeance is the Lord's , they will not go unpunished. The providence God gives is that you do not have to carry the burden of vengeance. I wish I could give you a hug in person.