A Child's Story - Jerry of Haiti
POSTED ON Jan 20, 2010 / UPDATED ON Jan 27, 2011
Eight-year-old Jerry Jackon sits in a patient room at Good Samaritan Hospital in Jimani on Wednesday. He’s waiting for surgery on his fractured femur. (Photo: Scott Cook)
Eight-year-old Jerry Jackson was in his house with his brothers and sisters on Tuesday when the earthquake hit his home country of Haiti. His father tells me that he was too small to rush out of the house on his own, but his older brother went back in for him—as the house came falling down. Everyone survived in the family, but Jerry was in pain and needed help.
While his mother stayed in Haiti for medical attention, Jerry and his father arrived at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Jimani on Friday to get treatment for his injures.
Today I met him, slumped over on a dirty mattress in a patient room filled with about seven others. He’s the small one of the room—quiet, but with a sweet smile and eyes that hold pain. His left leg is in a full cast.
The doctor who has been treating him tells me he has a fractured femur, but that he’s stable so an operation is not needed immediately—at least not compared to others who are waiting. Jerry has been given a toy by one of the workers—it is a plastic house with Legos inside that he takes out and shows us. His father looks at him and smiles. “My son,” he is able to say to us in English, through his thick Creole accent.
Please donate to COTN's Haiti Earthquake Response Effort TODAY! Your help is needed for immediate relief and long-term support.