Prayers for Jahi
Friday into Saturday morning, I could not sleep. One of my line sisters posted this and after I read it, I knew I had to share it here. The frog princess underwent a tonsillectomy last month and my 2 Goddaughters just went through it this past week. To say I cannot imagine is an understatement. I simply ask that if you are the praying kind, you pray for this mother and her child.
The court ruled that Jahi could be taken off life support. This will happen on Monday. According to the New York Daily News, she will be transferred to an undisclosed facility (a nursing home backed out after saying they would take her). Still, this cannot be easy. Hearing about how your child is physically here but brain dead.
I am a believer of miracles and I hope that you are too...
Letter copied from KTVU.com.
An Open Letter From A Mother To The World Nailah Winkfield.
I am a mother. She is my daughter. I am alive. Despite what they say, she is alive. I can touch her, she is warm. She responds to my touch. I can love her - I can feel her love. When she was in my belly I fell in love with her. Her heartbeat for the beginning of her life was my heartbeat until God, through a miracle, sparked her heart into existence. Given time I know he will spark her brain awake.
She is Jahi a name that means known by many. If she knew about all this attention she would blush. She is very shy.
My daughter sits on life support. I feel like she is on death row. The clock is ticking - ticking down. Childrens Hospital Oakland says she is dead. She was not dead when I brought her here on December 9th for a routine tonsillectomy. I put her in their hands, now they want to wash their hands of her.
Jahi had an operation. I was told it went well. Then she started bleeding from her mouth. They gave me a cup for her to bleed into and said it was normal. She bled more and more. I couldn’t keep up with it. I asked for help, they gave me a bigger bucket. She bled more. They did not answer our pleas for a doctor. Her surgeon never came back. She had a heart attack and her heart stopped beating. Then they came- then. They shocked her back into life. Now they say she is dead.
Before the surgery she said I am scared mommy. I said why Jahi? She said I am afraid I wont wake up. I told her it was going to be fine, it was a simple procedure. I should have listened to her.
She is on a respirator - with air she lives, her heart beats, her kidneys produce urine, she is warm and soft. They have been pressuring me to “pull the plug.†I can’t. I won’t. I can't let them kill my baby a second time.
I am fighting for her life. Each breath the vent gives her one more chance to live and gets her one step closer to the hospital’s deadline. What a word. I never thought they could tell me, her mother, they were going to pull the plug take her body to the morgue and send us home on Christmas while she lays in a freezer. She is warm now. I want my baby to be warm. We need time.
The Hospital says she is legally dead. That they can legally stop her breathing. I am not a lawyer. We called many in the middle of the night Monday as they were coming to unplug her Tuesday night. One answered the call. We stopped them. Every day is a struggle. We fight for Jahi. We have a temporary restraining order until Monday - then the Judge can say my baby is legally dead and Childrens can unplug her. It doesn’t matter what I say. I never thought I would have to go to court to get a hospital to treat my child.
Hold your children tight. Tell them you love them. I tell my daughter over and over. I know she can hear me. If she has any brain activity when they do the independent tests she will be kept alive. Pray for my daughter Jahi, pray that she will get better so they don’t kill her. Pray for me, mothers, that my love can bring her life once more.