Elaine Kolb Performs “Not Dead Yet” Song at CT Press Conference

NDY ally Elaine Kolb performed an original song at a press conference hosted by Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide (PAMAS) and Second Thoughts CT to highlight the dangers of the proposed CT assisted suicide legalization bill. Check out the video to see her speech and performance: https://youtu.be/AnaQhlmVt68

Video Transcript

– My name is Elaine Kolb. I’m 64 as in, “Will you still need me? Will you still feed me when I’m 64?” Well I am. When I first heard that song I thought it was gonna be a long time before I was 64, but here I am. On September 30th, 1977, I was 28 years old and a stranger came up to me and grabbed me, attempted robbery, stabbed me in the back. Up till then I, if anything, I was abnormally healthy. I’d never even had a broken bone. The only time I was in the hospital was when I was born and to get my tonsils out. There I was, almost died, had a spinal cord injury. They didn’t think I’d ever walk again. Well, medicine is wonderful but there’s a reason why they say it’s still practicing. They are still practicing. They don’t know. They’re just trying to figure it out best they can and do the best they can under the circumstances. But they don’t know. You can’t say whether somebody’s gonna live or die for sure. Some people seem to be just fine. My sister had surgery yesterday and last night they said she was just fine and then she had a blood clot and they took her back in for another surgery. And as far as I know, she’s fine and in intensive care, but you don’t know these things.

That’s why this is so important because real people are in real agony at times and we don’t know what to do. And we look to medical experts and they do the best they can, but they don’t know either. This is very emotional for me because it was 15 years ago last Monday, March 10th, when my partner Patty Deke, we had been together for 11 and a half years, when she died at hospice in Branford. And it’s one of the many blessings of my life that I got to be there holding her hand when she died. But she lived her whole life under a death sentence. She was told from the time she was a little girl that she would not live very long and that she should expect to die young. She had something like muscular dystrophy which is one of those wonderful things that just gets worse all the time. Fight as hard as you can, do the very best you can. You will only get worse. And that was the life she lived and she had many complications and she almost died many times. And so many people were so willing to say, “Don’t you think you should let her go?” They would tell me, “Don’t you think it’s time to let her go?” And I would say, “You know what? If you’re not gonna do everything you can to save her life, I want a different doctor. ‘Cause she’s fighting for her life and it’s my job to back her up.”

There’s a lot of people out there like Patty, people with disabilities, people that are fighting to stay alive under very difficult circumstances. Don’t offer us poison pills. Give us a chance to live in freedom. Give us the equipment that we need, give us the home care that we need. Stop cutting back. This country cut back food stamps. Come on folks. And yet, in the midst of all this, the reason we keep coming, the reason we keep fighting as hard as we do is to honor the ones who have fought so hard who have passed on before us. And so when I sing, I call upon them. I ask them, including my partner Patty and my sister Carol, who died after fighting, surviving 12 brain surgeries for serial tumors, one after another and she died in hospice care, too. It was a great blessing, more palliative care, more hospice care, and more community services so people can have a life worth living. No, no assisted suicide. No. And this song, you got the words please? The song is We’re Not Dead Yet. There’s an organization called Not Dead Yet. Okay? Do you know what it comes from Monty Python? Okay. You know, they were going around to get, picking up the people that were dead from the plague and stuff. They picked up this guy and he says, “Not dead yet.” “Oh sure you are.” “Oh no, not quite, in fact I was feeling pretty good today.”

– And their CEO and New England Regional Director are our national advisors.

♪ We are not dead yet ♪ ♪ We can boogie with the best of them ♪ ♪ We are not dead yet ♪ ♪ We can laugh and have some fun ♪ ♪ “‘Cause we’re not dead yet ♪ ♪ We’re fighting for our freedom ♪ ♪ And we’ll never die ♪ ♪ ‘Cause our spirit will live on. ♪ ♪ Will the outcasts of the outcasts ♪ ♪ Become the leaders of today? ♪ ♪ The ones I used to throw away to die ♪ ♪ Are teaching us a better way ♪ ♪ Well I’m positive if you’re HIV ♪ ♪ You can understand this song ♪ ♪ The last will be first and the first will be last ♪ ♪ And there’s more than one way to be strong ♪ Come on, you know the chorus now. ♪ ‘Cause we’re not dead yet ♪ ♪ And we can boogie with the best of them ♪ ♪ We are not dead yet ♪ ♪ We can laugh and have some fun ♪ ♪ We’re not dead yet ♪ ♪ Fighting for our freedom ♪ ♪ And we’ll never die ♪ ♪ ‘Cause our spirit will live on ♪ ♪ Well, when you take away our services, ♪ ♪ We don’t know how we’ll survive ♪ ♪ Since death is cost effective ♪ ♪ Do you want us dead or alive? ♪ ♪ I really wonder about that sometimes, don’t you? ♪ ♪ Well, when you take away the things we need ♪ ♪ We don’t know how we will cope ♪ ♪ When you cut our means of security ♪ ♪ You take away our hope ♪ ♪ But we’re not dead yet ♪ ♪ We can boogie with best of them ♪ ♪ We are not dead yet ♪ ♪ We can laugh and have some fun ♪ ♪ ‘Cause we’re not dead yet ♪ ♪ We’re fighting for our freedom ♪ ♪ And we’ll never die ♪ ♪ ‘Cause our spirit will live on ♪ ♪ Well if Medicaid does not aid us ♪ ♪ If Medicare does not care ♪ ♪ Millions of us will suffer ♪ ♪ How can you believe that’s fair? ♪ ♪ If you want to cut back funding ♪ ♪ Stop the welfare for the rich ♪ ♪ Billions bail out the billionaires ♪ ♪ While we’re trapped down in a ditch ♪ ♪ But we’re not dead yet ♪ ♪ We can boogie with the best of them ♪ ♪ We are not dead yet ♪ ♪ We can laugh and have some fun ♪ ♪ Oh, we’re not dead yet ♪ ♪ Fighting for our freedom ♪ ♪ And we’ll never die ♪ ♪ “Cause our spirit will live on ♪ ♪ Don’t you know it’s a battle cry for freedom ♪ ♪ Through the healing power of love ♪ ♪ It’s the hope we share from our vision ♪ ♪ Deep inside, up above ♪ ♪ It’s the peace that comes from the struggle to be ♪ ♪ As brave as we can be ♪ ♪ We are proud, we are humble ♪ ♪ And the truth will set us free ♪ ♪ ‘Cause we’re not dead yet ♪ ♪ We can boogie with the best of them ♪ ♪ We are not dead yet ♪ ♪ We can laugh and have some fun ♪ ♪ ‘Cause we’re not dead yet ♪ ♪ We’re fighting for our freedom ♪ ♪ And we’ll never die ♪ ♪ ‘Cause our spirit will live on ♪