WP: Coretta Scott King's Four Children Speak of Her Illness, Final Days

[DeepModem Mom]

Coretta Scott King's Four Children Speak of Her Illness, Final Days
By Darryl Fears and Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, February 6, 2006; Page A05


ATLANTA, Feb. 5 -- During the months between their mother's stroke and her death last Monday, the children of civil rights legend Coretta Scott King rode an emotional roller coaster of hope and despair -- down when the stroke and a heart attack paralyzed parts of her body, up when she appeared to be recovering, down again when tests for blood clots revealed stage-three ovarian cancer, up when she vowed to fight it, and then a final plunge into mourning when she stopped breathing.

In their first joint interview since that day, the King children -- Yolanda, Martin Luther III, Dexter and Bernice -- spoke openly on Sunday about their mother's final hours. Dexter teared up, saying she died on his birthday, Jan. 30. Bernice spoke of listening to her mother gasp in the dark hospital room they shared. Yolanda expressed shock that the founder of the Mexican hospital where her mother died had been convicted of multiple felonies.

As a group, they suggested for the first time that their mother's cancer may have grown from an ovarian cyst that doctors in Atlanta diagnosed as benign several years ago. The family is awaiting an autopsy report that could help trace the course of the disease.

The family expressed gratitude to the 45,000 people who stood in line for hours to view King's body at the Georgia Capitol on Saturday. The children agreed to speak to reporters at the historic Paschal's Restaurant, where their father, the slain civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., strategized with other leaders, on the condition that they not be asked about the future of Atlanta's Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. The center was built by their mother to carry on their father's legacy, but it has deteriorated so much, according to reports, that Yolanda and Dexter have proposed to sell it to the federal government for $11 million, while Martin and Bernice want to keep it under the family's control....

***

Coretta King, 78, chose homeopathic treatments to fight her disease, refusing to believe doctors who said it would be life-ending. In her later years, she had become a vegan, abstaining from meat and diary products. Her children said Sunday that they agreed as a family to turn to the Hospital Santa Monica in Playa de Rosarito, a controversial facility that, before it abruptly closed last week, practiced alternative cures....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/05/AR2006020501074.html

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. I lost my mom two years ago today

and this brought tears to my eyes. She was still a vital woman and I know it hurt to lose her.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. I'm so sorry, Grannie.

:hug:

[cantstandbush]

3. Why should women over childbearing age keep their ovaries?

I don't get it. Benign or not, once a cyst is identified why not just get rid of the ovaries?

[Samurai_Writer]

4. Ovaries are for more than just childbearing

Ovaries regulate the female hormones in the body. Removing the ovaries would mean early menopause and hormone replacement therapy. Hormone replacement is very controversial and has some nasty side effects. I'd rather keep my ovaries and let them do the job they were meant to do, thanks.

Editted to add: Why don't men just get rid of their testicles when they are done having children? Same thing.

[Hekate]

8. Right you are -- for some, it is equivalent to castration

However, if I had an ovarian cyst post-menopause, I'd really want to be SURE about its benignity.

RIP, Mrs. King. You were truly a Queen to carry on the King legacy.

Hekate

[barb162]

11. whyn do men keep their , you know ,"family jewels"

when they are 65 or 70 or whatever age.

[OKthatsIT]

12. Ovaries keep releasing hormones after menopause

Eggs stop releasing, but hormones will continue on a slow decline. My mother didnt really go through menopause until her late 60's. Since she lost her uterus in her 20's...she kept her ovaries. She didnt know when she was going through menopause. But in her late 60's she started going through hot flashes and emotional swings and feeling irritable, etc.. Her Gyno told her she was going through a very late menopause....interesting, huh?

[Nebraska_Liberal]

5. This poor woman...

Duped by the empty promises of "alternative medicine." She most likely gave money to some quack who told her he could cure her with prayers and herbs. If I was her age and was diagnosed with cancer I would want to live out the rest of my days at home with my family.

[cookiebird]

9. Spot On

Let's watch the kids trying to control the MLK history...it will be very sad.
Mrs. King deserved better than this.

[LeftyMom]

6. I didn't know she was vegan.

Just when I though I couldn't respect her more. :loveya:

[Raine]

7. I didn't know that either

I'm a life long vegetarian but never been able to make the step to being a vegan, another thing to admire Mrs King for. :thumbsup:

[superconnected]

10. I popped over to the freepers because I like to see their racial hatred

come out, after in person they bring up how the dems were racist etc and don't acknowlege the turn around.

There it was, racial hatred on Mrs King and insisting she did nothing to lie in state and her husband was a commie. Whenever one of them did tried to defened her, they got attacked. Now tell me they aren't black hating facists.

Condolsleeza, you're going to be well ahead of the islamics when they start filling the camps.