Schiavo parents deal with reality

TERRI SCHIAVO'S parents know their brain-damaged daughter is dying and are "dealing with reality", a family spokesman said yesterday, even as their supporters pledged to take their fight to Washington.

On Schiavo's 10th day without food or water, supporters of her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, continued to plead for President Bush and his brother, Governor Jeb Bush, to intervene to have her feeding tube reinserted.

"Everyone is willing to write this woman's obituary except one person. And that's Terri Schiavo herself," said Paul O'Donnell, a Catholic Franciscan monk and a spokesman for her parents. A group of their supporters were heading to protest outside the White House gates yesterday.