Pray for Boy Badly Burned

[Lamb_Serenade]

Please pray for Jeffrey who was burned over 85 percent of his body this past weekend.

Please pray as well for his family, especially his sister who witnessed the incident and tried to help her brother.

Here is a portion of the article about what happened and what he and his family are going through:

“They tell me his treatment will go well into his 20s,” said mother Mary, mixing hope with tears by phone from the Shriner’s Hospital that unexpectedly became her semi-permanent home last week.

“We need prayers. That’s what they say the most. They say it’s a miracle he’s alive.”

This is not a mother’s hyperbole or a doctor’s way of making a family feel better. Jeffery is really lucky to be here at all.

Third-degree burns, where the flesh is burned down almost to the bone, cover 60 percent of his body. Second-degree burns cover another 25 percent. His hair is gone. His face is burned almost beyond recognition, puffed up to twice its normal size and dotted with black char marks and gray deadness where doctors have pulled skin away.

“The rest of him is wrapped like a mummy,” Mary said.

The only places not burned are patches on his left thigh and part of his right buttocks. Those will be the areas from which skin grafts are built in the coming months and years.

But even as others struggle to hold back tears when they see him, Mary says something only a mother could say: “He’s still my beautiful baby boy.”

Her anguish is multiplied infinite times by the pain her 12-year-old daughter is experiencing. She was nearby when Jeffery struggled to get a trash fire started, then broke house rules when he used a gasoline can to get things going on a windy day. She saw him catch on fire and tried to save her brother, tried to push him to the ground. But when her own clothes lit in flame, it was Jeffery who sacrificed himself.

“He pushed her away from him,” she said as she began to sob. “Everyone’s calling her a hero but she’s calling Jeffery a hero because he pushed her off and saved her.”

“I’ve got the most incredible kids in the world and they love each other a lot.”

And now, just as worrying as the physical toll on her son is the psychological toll on her daughter.

Her daughter called 911 and sprinted across the Mississippi natives’ 300 acres to fetch her dad, stopped by an unidentified coal-bed methane worker who raced to help comfort Jeffery as he lay there, agony burned into his skin. He would soon be at the hospital, where he was stabilized and taken to Denver.

 

[Faithx6]

My prayers for this precious child and for his sister. May a strong sense of God’s loving presence be with them now and through the long road to recovery.

 

[Lindathirdorder]

I am at a loss for the words that express the pain in my heart for this precious child and the suffering he will long endure. Heartfelt prayers with them.

 

[iserve]

Oh Lord, things like this make the human condition almost unbearable. Please comfort this boy and his family, and give them everything it takes to survive this.

 

[mom4truth]

My heart and prayers go out to Jeffrey. What an awful thing to have to endure. I can’t imagine the pain! I will also be praying for his sister. How horrible for her to see her brother suffering so. God bless this poor family and have mercy on them!!!

 

[Joe_Kelley]

With prayers for all - Joe

 

[Los_Angeles]

For Jefferey’s recovery, his sister, and their entire family, and all those affected:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

God Bless You

 

[mim]

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

Amen.

 

[244Rocket]

Praying very hard for Jeffrey’s complete recovery. God have mercy on them.

 

[mom4truth]

Debbie:

Just wondering: do you know this family? I feel so awful for this little boy. He is all I can think about (& pray for) at the moment. Praying for strength & endurance for this little guy!

 

[allhers]

:console: :crying:

 

[Renato]

LambSeranade:

I’m praying for Jeffrey and his family.

Prayerfully,

Renato

 

[Galilea]

Saint Martin of Porres have mercy on him, by the merits of our Lord Jesus’ Holy Wounds, calm his pains. Amen

“Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ to heal those of our souls.”
“My Jesus, pardon and mercy, by the meris of Thy Holy Wounds.”

 

[Lamb_Serenade]

Debbie:

Just wondering: do you know this family? I feel so awful for this little boy. He is all I can think about (& pray for) at the moment. Praying for strength & endurance for this little guy!

My Dear Friend m4t, and all of the prayer warriors here at CAF.

Thank you so much for your prayers for this boy and his family. I don’t know the family, but our town is relatively small (25K) and something like this affects the entire community whether we know someone personally or not. It is a community who gathers around those who are hurting and offer support. Me posting the story and asking for you to pray is doing my part. I know what a difference prayer can make, and if our Sweet Lord will hasten to make a difference for the family and for healing in body as well as mind because a few more offer intercessions and prayers for them I ask those here to be those pray-ers.

Keep praying! There hasn’t been any new news released to the public but I know they still need all the prayers they can get.

 

[Monsterkittie]

Please add my prayers to all the others praying for this family.

O great St. Peregrine, you have been called “The Mighty,” “The Wonder-Worker,” because of the numerous miracles which you have obtained from God for those who have had recourse to you. For so many years you bore in your own flesh this cancerous disease that destroys the very fiber of our being, and who had recourse to the source of all grace when the power of man could do no more. You were favored with the vision of Jesus coming down from His Cross to heal your affliction. Ask of God and Our Lady, the cure of the sick whom we entrust to you. We remember young Jeffery, and ask you to remember him as well.

Aided in this way by your powerful intercession, we shall sing to God, now and for all eternity, a song of gratitude for His great goodness and mercy. Amen.

 

[canne]

My prayers are with this family.

 

[pyropam]

I will continue to pray for this little boy. He will endure
many surgeries and much pain. We must remember
to continue our prayers.

 

[mim]

In my prayers…

Our Father,
who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.

 

[mom4truth]

Lamb:

Thank you for providing more information regarding this little boy. I just CAN’T stop thinking about him. He is in my prayers daily. I will continue praying for him and his family. I will also add your intentions as well. You are a very kind, thoughtful person! Much love,

 

[Lamb_Serenade]

Here is an update we got today about young Jeffrey who was badly burned last month. It seems he is doing very good considering the seriousness of his burns.

Continue to pray for this brave young man and his family. They have a long road ahead of them, and the journey is only just beginning.

Jeffrey’s hand trembled as he gripped the spoon, preparing to feed himself his first solid food in more than a month.

His 13-year-old body had been engulfed in a trash fire accident on April 21 near his home, scoring 85 percent of his skin in second- and third-degree burns. More than half-a-dozen surgeries later, his feeding tube had been removed, he was scheduled to move out of the intensive care unit at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Los Angeles, and his battered morale was on the upswing.

But as he tried to spoon himself a quivering cube of cherry Jell-O, Jeffery’s weakened hand lost control, and the utensil slipped from his fingers. For anyone else, this would be a minor setback. Jeffery, on the other hand, took it hard. Thankfully, his mother stood at his bedside, ready to guide him back on track.

“Baby, don’t get upset,” she said. “Pick that spoon up and try again.”

On the second attempt, Jeffery successfully fed himself.

Over the next several of months, he will face little battles like this one each day. His charred skin is still brittle and healing, sensitive to touch and open to infection. Jeffery can’t lift his arms over his head, or grip his fingers into fists. Given the extent of his injuries, however, Jeffery has bounded ahead of the expected recovery curve. His doctors once anticipated six months of hospitalization, but Jeffery’s determined efforts at rehabilitation sessions have cut that projected time in half.

“The doctors are simply amazed,” his mother says. “They’ve read studies of children recovering this quickly, but they’ve never seen any recover as fast as (Jeffery) has.”

Jeffery is feeding off the presence of his mother and 10-year-old brother, who frequently plays video games with his big brother. The activity actually works as physical therapy for Jeffery’s hands.

Support also continues to pour in, in the forms of hundreds of cards and financial contributions. At his school, Jeffery’s classmates and their parents have organized several fundraising events, including a pig-kissing contest on Wednesday and a raffle set for Monday.

“We’re a very small school, so everyone knows each other,” said Jeffery’s classroom teacher. “They ask about him all the time.”

When Jeffery returns home in a few months, he still faces a difficult adjustment. He has shed dozens of pounds since the accident, and will need his mother to serve as his live-in nurse for at least six months. Jeffery’s doctors have been training Mary in the art of applying skin lotion and massaging burned skin for when she takes over his care.

“They say I’ll practically be a nurse by the time I leave here,” Mary said.

Back at the family home, Jeffery’s father and two sisters try to maintain a sense of normalcy, but reminders of his absence abound. His 12 year old sister, is set to go to her first school dance this week. Jeffery was supposed to come with her. His 16 year old sister has taken up the bulk of the house chores while continuing her home-schooling. Both should be on their way out to California once school lets out.

Mom, meanwhile, continues to live out of a Los Angeles motel and visits Jeffery every day. A Shriners van service runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., but if she wants to see her son at another time or stay with him longer, Mary has to take a circuitous three-hour odyssey through L.A.’s public transit system.

The journey is worth it, however, to witness Jeffery’s remarkable progress and indomitable spirit.

“He’s my hero,” she said. “I don’t know how he does what he does every day.”