Delores DeGrandis Bedin Foundation for Patient and Elderly Rights

Emeric J. Bedin,October 18, 1920 - April 22, 1998

"Our Hero - The Great Fighter for America, Liberty and Freedom" 14th anniversary:
You are not alone now. Your beloved devoted wife, Dolores, took up the same fight of cancer and fought the good fight in the example you gave all of us. Emeric did not back down with doctors predictions that he had weeks to live. He lived 2 and 1/2 years beyond the statistics. He said: "Never give up. Fight for what is right. Know that moment before you go to sleep at night and your eyes are closed review what you did during the day and if you treated everyone right."

Emeric was willing to lay his life down landing in Normandy during WWII for our great country to preserve Freedom, Liberty and Justice and all to be treated equally. When he had 100 Nazi's chasing him he outran them. What has happened 67 yrs later? How did this spirit get lost by those who are to heal us? His widow was forced to fight for her civil rights when she asked questions to a leading Chicago hospital why she did not get results from a CT Scan taken 5 months earlier that she had a mass in her pancreas. The last year of her existence, she was obliged to fight two battles at the same time; not only her cancer, but the dysfunctional medical system that did not allow her any questioning about the crucial mistake.

For that, she was put at risk to be taken away from the loving care and dedication of her daughter. Hospital administrators bullying her that a Public Guardian would be assigned. A paradox that is a call to conscience to those dismissing the elderly and labeling them as incompetent when they aren't, taking their rights away. Emeric fought to keep Liberty with no self interest or bottom line profit. Our hero gallantly reached down and greeted his bride, Dolores, escorting her up the stairway to Heaven.

They fought the good fight, they finished the race, they kept the faith honoring them by asking how we treat the elderly and terminally ill with rights and dignity? And as Theodore Roosevelt said: "It is not the critic that counts. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marked by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasm and great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

We miss you Dad and hold Mom tight in your arms - she fought hard. We honor that young soldier in Normandy who would be furious knowing 67 years later how his widow was treated by hospital administrators trying to take her freedom and rights away. By the Delores DeGrandis Bedin Foundation for patient and elderly rights. "The elderly are people too." For help or to report abuse call 646-262-6200.

Source:
In Memoriam

See Also:
NASGA: Delores Bedin, Illinois Victim