Transcripts of Health Care Appropriations Committee Testimony
Mr. Alex Macsuga
Florida House of Representatives
Monday, 3/20/06 - 2:00pm   ||  Tallahassee, FL
Appx 2:11pm

"Thank you Mr. Chairman. Thank you to the members of this committee for allowing me the time to share with you my testimony this afternoon. My name is Alex Macsuga and I'm from Loxahatchee.

It was Tuesday. 82 degrees and sunny. I remember it as if it were yesterday. My telephone rang, and a friend gave me the terrible news that my dear friends, Daryl and Beth Logullo had lost their baby. Katherine Elizabeth is her name. An angel born sleeping, as her parents so lovingly describe her.

How can this be? I asked. Everything during Beth's pregnancy couldn't have been any more normal. How can this be? How can this be?

I later learned the details of this devastating day in the lives of my life long friends. Hour and hours of hard labor, all the while Katherine Elizabeth's parents are reading her the word of God from scripture. Daryl and Beth are the most faithful people I know. How can this be?

I arrived at their door shortly after Daryl & Beth returned how from the hospital that night. They were broken-hearted, their lives completely shattered, and worst of all empty-handed. Daryl opened the door and fell into my arms. Here's the man that I love and respect more than anyone I know, and he is in my arms just completely broken. There were no words that I could say that could ease his pain.

I saw Beth that night, only for a moment. I cannot even begin to imagine what she must have been going through, but she was as she always is, standing here today, the epitome of grace through this most difficult time.

Members of the committee, this story is not only about this one tragic day. Beth carried Katherine for nearly 8 months before Katherine's heart stopped beating. We still to this day do not know why. She carried her son Matthew for 9 months. He is now a thriving 8 year old who loves baseball. Everyone in this room could learn a lot about grace by spending some time with him.

Giving birth is not just about the labor pains and delivery, it is much more than that. I have three children of my own, and for each one of them the experience was different, but experiences nonetheless. For the State of Florida only to recognize the end result of that one tragic day, and no this whole 'process' is unimaginable.

The State of Florida only recognized that there was a 'still' birth, and therefore no 'Birth' Certificate is required. Unthinkable, especially when you consider that Daryl & Beth received a Death Certificate from the State of Florida recognizing that Katherine Elizabeth had passed away.

The Logullo's are not along. Hundreds, if not thousands of families in Florida have endured this same tragedy.

Honor these families, and honor Katherine Elizabeth Logullo, an 'Angel born sleeping, May 10, 2005.'

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