By now most folks are aware of the situation unfolding here in Oakland at Children’s hospital where 13-year-old Jahi McMath sits on life support after being declared brain-dead as a result of an ‘routine’ operation gone wrong… It’s interesting hearing folks weigh in stating that this family is ‘out of pocket’, ‘selfish’ and need to ‘let their daughter go’ and take their baby girl off life support.

I’ve run into folks who have gone on and on about how much all this is costing the hospital and how this is unfair for them to be saddled with this ‘burden’.. Yes, I had someone tell me that keeping Jahi alive is a burden.

I had one man start talking legalese about how the parents signed a slip stating that there are risks with an operation and that there was a possibility something could go wrong and hence the family must accept that fact..

In fact last night on a local newscast, there was a ‘expert’ from Stanford University who stated that Jahi’s family is making this hard on other families, because in the future hospitals will move quickly to end a life rather than go through such a  fight as the one they are experiencing now..

Underlying such callous assertions is the money…Sadly in their minds of some Jahi’s life has a price tag.. They feel its costly to put a feeding team in her so she can be moved to another place.. They feel its costly to allow another doctor to perform the procedure.. The reality is, no money should be spared to heal Jahi and her family. Heck we as a country spare no expense to equip our military to bring about death, even when the situation seems unwinnable.. why not apply that take no prisoners mentality to save her life?? God forbid if this was one of our loved ones, we would not be trying to hear some stranger talk about how much her being kept alive was costing folks..

Davey D

Read the open letter from Jahi’s mother Nailah Winkfield

An Open Letter From A Mother To The World

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.

Nailah Winkfield