Shortly before Heather Burcham died of cervical cancer in 2007, Gov. Rick Perry made sure that she enjoyed some of the best days of her life. It’s an overused cliche to say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but that cliche applies ten-fold to the photo at the begging of this video.
“She’s happy as hell. I mean, she is just unbelievably ecstatic. Here she is on some beautiful ranch somewhere, riding on a motorcycle, which she’s never really done…with the governor of the state of Texas….”
How you get from a young woman dying with cervical cancer, to motorcycling with a governor, is a story worth telling.
In 2007, Heather met Gov. Perry. Far more than just a meeting, though, it sparked a friendship and long after the order was rescinded and Perry lost the political fight, the two kept talking. Heather had Perry’s personal cell phone, and he invited her for a day at a friend’s ranch.
Craig Wilson (Heather’s friend): It was a great day, it was one of the great days of her life. She loved the whole thing.
Months later, when the end was near for Heather, Perry quietly snuck into Houston, and sat by her bedside. No press, no statement. Just the governor, and one of his 21 million constituents, for hours.
Mary Lee (Heather’s friend): I think he truly had a heart, for this young girl.
He did. Those of us who have spent any time at all around Rick Perry, and I’ve spent a few minutes around him here and there over the past couple of years, recognize how well this story fits with the man we’ve seen up close. That’s just him.
It’s fair to argue the policy on the merits, but to ascribe the Gardasil order to some ulterior motive just doesn’t square with the character of the man at all.
oh just wait..something degrading will be made of this.
Wow. That is powerful stuff.
I really love this article. Thanks for sharing it.
It’s a touching story with a sad ending. How it justifies Perry’s attempted mandate still evades me.
Have you ever been really passionate about anything and mad a decision based upon that passion that didn’t turn out the way you wanted it too…. in other words , made a mistake? Governor Rick Perry did. After you made the mistake did you have the opportunity to correct the mistake? Governor Rick Perry did. After you made the mistake a really bad mistake, did you take the blame publicly and say you were wrong, and that if you had it to do over, you would not have done the deed? Governor Perry did. ave you ever made a bad mistake in your job? Governor Perry did. Did you admit that you made a mistake and take the blame publicly? Governor Rick Perry did. Governor Rick Perry listens to the people of Texas. He did not have to back down on the issue but he did. He did it… he backed down and admitted wrong … and he changed what he had done back to what the people wanted. Amazing how unforgiving some can be, Mercy me. You must be a perfect human being.
Um. Governor Perry’s job is to listen to the Constitution of the United States of America and the State of Texas. His job is not to act on impulse or emotion. Mr. Perry is exactly the type of politician we DON’T NEED.
By the way, this is a sick and disgusting attempting to hide a miscreant deed behind emotions. Reminds me of the liberals who put sad children in ads for school bonds constantly. Only this is is…worse.
When will we start seeing the stories of lefty reporters trying to dig into Heather’s life, insinuating that there was something more than friendship between her and the Governor? His GOP rivals won’t do it, but you can bet Obama’s assassins will. Better get Anita Perry out in front on this, pronto.
This is a great story. Shame on Michelle Bachmann for acting as though this is a innoculation that should be up to parents. It should not be, just as polio and other disease innoculations are not up to overly hysterical, irrational over protective parents. It’s to protect the public as a whole. I had to get my uteris frozen at the age of 25. It was painful but it protected me. I had gotten a pap smear that came back with bad cells thanks to hpv. That was in the 90′s . Thank God I caught my hpv in time. This girl was not so lucky. Even if you don’t have unprotected sex until you are married, over 50% of all people have this disease and dont even know it and now they are saying that it shows up in younger kids now in their mouth. Ew! It’s’ highly contagious. Why not protect your daughter if you can?
Rick Perry cares. The cynics can’t understand that. It’s a matter of projection – his opponents must assume that he thinks as they do.
Nothing drives me more nuts than hearing the mindless smears of people who do nothing except regurgitate what their favorite candidate’s say. How can someone accuse Perry of being a big government crony capitalist when his record in general shows just the opposite? When someone like Bachmann, someone I now used to admire, comes out and attacks Perry’s character just to gain political points, it just is so depressing and it makes me sick to my stomach.
Now I’m not crying for Perry here, and I’m by no means supporting Perry’s decision. But I’m a Texan and I’ve been watching Perry ever since he became governor. I’ve wildly disagreed with him on some things, including the HPV vaccine issue, but the thing about Perry that makes me like him still is he is very honest and humble, and he’s willing to admit his own mistakes, even at his own political expense.
I haven’t decided who I’m going to vote for yet (honestly I’m leaning toward Herman Cain) but I do know this. Both Bachmann and Perry are experienced politicians, but its very clear who is the more genuinely honest candidate here. Bachmann is done after her lie about the vaccine causing that girl to become mentally retarded. America is not dumb. Bachmann will just expose herself in the coming months and bring herself down.
Barack Obama should do something like Rick Perry when he passed his ObamaCare : Big government is good for the people and it helps to save lives like what Rick Perry did to Burcham.
It reminds me of the photo of President Bush hugging a little girl who lost her mother in 911. The father took the snapshot. Please dear God give us a good person in the WH again! One that is totally engaged and does his very best to do the right thing. One who actually loves our country and someone with more experience than a Social Worker in leading.
Thank you for publishing this story.
A good man is hard to find.
Well clearly Perry isn’t idealogical enough for a lot of candidates and conservatives, along with every other candidate except Palin, who hasn’t yet had to answer detailed questions this election cycle.
Ed Morrissey at Hotair today is on top of the underlying issue…which is that Republicans and conservatives seem to be going out of their way to lose the 2012 presidential election.
In a time when the national debt might is about to sink the greatest country ever, when a president has added $1 trillion in annual spending, when evidence is mounting that the Obama administration is simply criminally corrupt, when the most extreme elements of the hard left have taken over the Democrat party, when the predident has abandoned Israel, when Iran may already have gone nuclear, and on and on….the biggest issues at the moment are Perry’s support for this vaccine, Social Security, and Perry’s support (along with 90% of his legisature) for hispanic kids trying to get an education.
It’s like Obama has secretly captured and brainwashed the candidates and many bloggers to work for the Obama campaign.
The slogan should be “Give me 100% of what I want or give me death”.
ChristoForTruth,
You seem to think that a President should be Mr. roboto, a soulless, emotionless construct who simply thinks everything through like it’s some long math equation.
The story proves that this wasn’t some crony capitalist issue for Perry. maybe, just maybe, he genuinenly gave a damn. I still think the Executive Order was wrong. Yet I think an incident like this demonstrates that Perry is a man of high moral quality and character.
When those pictures happened, he wasn’t circulating them over Texas. He wasn’t trying to milk it for publicity. He was moved by a dying woman, and did what he could to provide comfort for her in her final days. There are few activities in this life more noble.
Gov. Perry is a down to earth good guy who will be faced with a tsumani of demonization from the left and the politically correct. He meant well with the Gardasil decision, he recanted how he implemented it he is a successful governor. Obama cannot use that adjective for anything other than destroy this country.
BTW-why is no one whining about CA forcing students to be vaccinated for pertussis(whooping cough)? People have negative reactions to that as well.
I really feel for this girl. I understand and have seen people die from Cancer.
But this girl DID NOT KNOW Governor Perry when he signed his mandate for Gardasil. She met him afterwards. That was clearly stated by her parents yesterday on Fox News with Megyn Kelly.
As Conservatives I thought we were against Mandates? I thought that was an over reach of Government Power. I thought that we as parents were to be responsible for our families and that government was not to intervene on any level. I can see that I am now wrong.
As Conservatives I see that it is NOW okay to write executive orders and mandate laws. As Conservatives I can now see it is Okay to use PEOPLE as PROPS when you want something so badly.
What is the difference between this and Obama? When Obama was trying to push Obama Care, he had all kinds of people around him saying they need this, they are going to die. When he signed the Bill, there was a little boy there, that he told us about who’s mother died, and for her he signed Obama Care.
So in a sense your saying that Obama was Right, because your saying Rick Perry is Right.
We are in big trouble if you continue to excuse big government and the power that they use.
No I am not a Ron Paul Supporter. I like Rick Santorum and Herman Cain.
But I really thought people didn’t want progressives any longer. I really thought that they meant it when they were reading their history, and looking how we have gotten into this mess over the years. I guess I was wrong. I guess I was being lied too.
this girl I feel for her and her family. I know they miss her, the same way I miss my dad, and my Aunt who both died of Cancer.
But one thing here – HPV IS AN STD IT IS NO AIRBORNE, you can’t catch it when you hug someone or breath on them. Just like I couldn’t catch Cancer from my dad or my aunt.
Perry is not perfect, but who amoung you is?? Perry has made some mistake and
stood up and admitted it like a MAN! How many of you Perry-Bashers have confessed your darkest secrets, even to a priest? When you get finished being perfect, why
don’t YOU run for public office – or are there things out there you would never want revealed??!!!!!!
I am not a Perry Basher. Why is it when Perry is being vetted, we are labeled as Perry Bashers? This confuses me and it is a Saul Alinsky tactic now being used by conservatives on their own. it is to hone in on a target, and demonize them.
First off again this is not just a simple mistake. How many of you have been to the Governor of Texas Website and looked at the List of Executive Orders Perry has written. He writes them like he likes to drink water.
Isn’t this the same thing as obama?
Instead of saying we are Perry Bashers answer me this:
Do you support all the Executive Orders that Obama has written?
Do you believe that you as a Parent or as an adult have the Right to take responsibility for yourself, and your children?
Do you believe as a Parent you are the one that is in charge of your family and you and you alone have the right to determine what is best for your family and your children?
Do you believe that the government has the right to intrude on your home, and tell you what they think is best for you?
If you believe in your heart, that mandating a law, an act, or a vaccine by Executive Order is a good thing, and it should have been done, you have just agreed with everything Obama has stated and done.
What line will you not allow the government to cross?
when are people going to say this is not what you are entitled to do?
Governor Perry may have the heart of a bear. Large and wide and full of love. This isn’t an mistake, it is a government mandate. This girl is being used as a prop, of someone he didn’t know until after he signed the mandate.
It pains me to see this girl being used. She is being used. The media has reported on this. It is shameful.
She is being used to say the government has the right to make decisions for you and over step their bounds.
What pains me is that Conservatives are making exceptions and saying it is okay. It is never okay.
So to all that are making this exception, also dont’ mind the TSA, or Mrs. Obama telling you what you can and cannot eat, and CANNOT BE UPSET about OBAMA CARE.
CAUSE AFTER ALL IT IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD. THEY JUST ARE DOING WHAT THEY FEEL IS ALRIGHT, BECAUSE THEY WANT YOU TO LIVE, THEY WANT TO TAKE CARE OF YOU.
not yelling emphasizing. a vote for Perry is a vote for every single thing that you cant’ stand about Obama. Because Perry has done the same thing.
All of a sudden we are watching the death of a young woman who contracted a STD and died because of it. Now the moonbats are coming out of the coffins and cellars to cast blame. in favor of their particular political candidate.
Its totally stupid and ridiculous that people are so hateful and narrow minded to use the death of a person to approve or disapprove a political action. Shame on you all.
It really nice the Gov showed empathy and sympathy for the pretty young lady. It is truly sad her life had to end in such a slow gruesome way for the young.
However, it probably is not good way to remember her life to use it as a means to establish political protocol or policy. We have had our minds and consciousness altered by progressives for so long that we are starting to believe the krap they preach to control our lives with medicine and vaccinations and fake healthcare programs and lies and falsehoods.
Maybe political mandates of ANY kind are not the way for us to proceed into the future. More govt interference always leads to more poverty, more oppression and more lies and control of our very existence. We as a nation are seeing this very thing happen to us today because of the scandalous corrupt regime of 0buma
Hopefully it wasn’t just backsliding with damage control in mind.
My opposition to Perry as the nominee for the RNC has nothing to do with his Gardadil mandate.
That said this does put it into a perspective that is touching.
It’s not going to make me an enthusiastic Perry cheerleader, but it does make me think better of the man behind the title.
There are worse candidate than Rick Perry for 2012. Barack Obama comes to mind.
it is a dangerous drug girls are haveing strokes left and right on this drug and lots of other problems. It’s sad this beautful girl had to die, but I would still say “NO” TO THIS DRUG…..