
Foster father takes in only terminally ill children - ca98am79
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-foster-father-sick-children-2017-story.html
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jacquesm
I know a lady that works on the cancer ward of a childrens hospital. Strongest
person I know, but after reading this I'm not even sure how to feel. Having
children comes with the risk of losing them, having children with the full
knowledge that you _will_ lose them is on another level entirely.

Hats of to this man, I know I could never do this.

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cylinder
Jesus. To not only be a child with a terminal disease, but to also lack
parent(s)... I can't imagine the pain and sadness these kids feel. Thank you
to this man.

~~~
LeifCarrotson
And on the other side - it's hard enough being a parent and seeing your kids
grow up and not need you. Harder still to be a foster parent and constantly
become attached only to have them torn away from you, seeing them go on to
situations that may be subjectively worse than the home you gave them.

You give up a part of yourself to raise a child. I simply can't imagine the
sort of emotional strength it would take to bury 10 children and show such
love to dozens more.

~~~
magic_beans
Foster parents always have the option to adopt. Not to be a negative Nancy,
but the system is pretty terrible and many, MANY foster parents act more as
halfway houses for kids than any sort of "parent".

~~~
LeifCarrotson
Not always. Biological parents, at least in my area, can often reclaim the
kids.

~~~
travmatt
The goal is usually to reunite the child with their parent, but circumstances
often intervene. Children have a larger network of caregivers (aunts, uncles,
grandparents, cousins, even church members and family friends) that also play
a large role.

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vintageseltzer
I read this article when it was first published and was very moved. I was able
to donate to him here, if you are interested:
[https://www.gofundme.com/bzeek/](https://www.gofundme.com/bzeek/)

~~~
DrScump
It's reached 142% of its original goal in _five days_! (That does _not_ mean
we can't add to it.)

The GoFundMe has informational updates as recent as today (13 February).

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xupybd
He lost his wife, his son was born with significant disabilities and all these
kids are dying in his care. I just don't know how he does it. I'd just have
nothing left after all of that.

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mobiplayer
My sister worked in an ICU ward for babies as a nurse and she would often cry
for days after one of the babies died. Shortly after me and my partner had a
son my sister decided to quit her job because she felt even more attached to
the babies. She couldn't bear it more.

Just saying this because it must be horrifying to watch your kids die again
and again. I guess this man finds solace in the fact that he is making their
short lives much better. My respects.

~~~
jacquesm
One of my children spent the better part of two weeks in such a location.
Please thank you sister on my behalf, it's the ones that live that hopefully
somehow relieve some of that burden and mine did and I'll be forever grateful
to the people that do such work. One day when we came there to feed our child
the atmosphere was quite changed and I didn't have to ask anybody what was up.
And still, nobody so much as dropped a stitch on that shift or said a bad
word. Super impressed.

~~~
mobiplayer
Thank you for your kind words and I'm so sorry to read about your experience
(can't find right words...)

~~~
jacquesm
All is well that ends well. He's fine now but those were the longest days of
my life to date.

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fraserharris
The subtext here is that "Bzeek, a quiet, devout Libyan-born Muslim" would not
be allowed to immigrate to the United States today given the "Muslim Ban"
Executive Order.

~~~
randyrand
Isn't it a temporary ban?

~~~
gdulli
The thing about phantom threats to national security is they never seem to go
away.

~~~
randyrand
So should temporary bans be...banned? It seems there could be use for a
temporary ban in the general sense.

AFAIK, this was a good scenario for a temporary ban. More strict anti-terror
regulations are announced to be coming, and to prevent people from trying to
get in before that ban, you have a temporary ban.

It made sense to me.

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wehadfun
Another side story is that the girls condition was caused by her mother
breathing a pesticide . The mother was probably an immigrant her self that we
want to throw over a wall. Also if breathing this pesticide caused this how
can it be safe to eat?

~~~
dkersten
_if breathing this pesticide caused this how can it be safe to eat?_

Because something going into your lungs and something going into your
digestive system has two very different effects.

I'm not saying its good or healthy to eat pesticides, but that's a separate
issue than "breathing it in is poisonous, so all forms of administration must
be poisonous" isn't necessarily true. For example, your stomach acid often
breaks down things.

Having said that, I am of the general opinion that we shouldn't be consuming
pesticides.

