Move Over Joan, Fishers Has A New Mommie Dearest

Isn’t this sweet? The Star carried a story about Jeanne Atkins. She owns a Cheesecake company in Fishers, an Indianapolis suburb and hosts a daily prayer meeting for her workers:

“I pray for my strength, my joy and my wisdom,” said the member of St. Luke Catholic Church who is a devout Catholic and attends Mass daily. “Prayer is my strength.”…

“You’re making God’s heart smile,” Atkins told the 36 employees at the June 28 prayer time.

But the true nature of her cheesy faith is revealed in the hateful way she and her family are treating her son and his partner of 27 years. Atkin’s son, Patrick had a stroke on a business trip back in 2005 that left him disabled. When Brett, Patrick’s partner (they met in college, owned a home together, shared bank accounts, etc.) rushed to Atlanta where he was hospitalized, Patrick’s family left orders with the ICU that only family and clergy were allowed to see Patrick. And though they’d been together for over 20 years by that time, Brett was not “legally” family.

Since then, the Atkins have refused to let Brett care for or even visit Patrick, who is now mentally and physically disabled. This is the man Brett has spent over half his life loving. Because Brett and Patrick were not married and had not crafted a living will (heads up folks!), Patrick has no legal recourse. Even if they’d spent the thousands of dollars required to draw up necessary (for couples who can’t get married) documents, there are no guarantees that they hold up in a state like ours when you have wealthy holy-rollers like Jeanne willing to clog things up indefinitely.

A recent court decision, while not allowing Brett to care for his partner, insisted that he at least be allowed to visit him. The Atkins’ are appealing the decision in order to keep Brett away.

I wonder if God’s heart smiled when Jeanne Atkins said this:

The record also shows that she told (Brett) Conrad that if her son was going to return to life with his partner after recovering from his stroke, she would prefer he not recover at all.

With this kind of motherly love, it’s no surprise that this letter from Patrick back in 2000 had no effect on his family’s lack of compassion:

I want you all to know that Brett is my best friend in the whole world and I love him more than life itself. I beg all of you to reach out to him with the same love you have for me, he is extremely special and once you know him you will understand why I love him so much. Trust me, God loves us all so very much, and I know he approves of the love that Brett and I have shared for over 20 years.

Sorry Patrick.