Mother of Comatose Girl: Jahi is 'Blossoming into a Teen'

** That is the title of the article. It's not my title. My title would read - 'The Sad Continuing Story of A Dead Teen. (and yes, this entire story is SAD)

A while back (around Christmas time I think), a brain dead teen girl was going to be taken off the life support equipment that was keeping her heart and lungs moving. She had become brain dead after a reaction during a routine tonsillectomy. The mother refused to allow the girls dead body to be taken off the machines, even when the hospital said it was illegal for them to keep a dead body hooked up. The court ordered the girl off the machines. The mother found a care facility that would agree to keep the dead child hooked up. This is what has been happening since then ....

Mother of Comatose Girl: Jahi is 'Blossoming into a Teen'

Jahi McMath spends much of her time like any other teenage girl: she sits cross-legged in bed, listens to Rihanna and Beyonce on her iPod, and gets a manicure and pedicure every Friday.

This according to mom Nailah Winkfield, who yesterday gave her first interviews since Jahi was moved out of Children's Hospital Oakland. Winkfield tells NBC Bay Area her daughter is "still asleep" but "very responsive," describing her as moving in bed, bending at the waist, and moving her head from side to side; her "energy level ... is way up." Winkfield adds, per NBC Philadelphia. "If somebody was totally, 100% brain dead, I don't think they'd be able to move as much as my daughter does."

Winkfield's interview also revealed what kind of care Jahi is being given, though Winkfield wouldn't say where or who is paying for it. Jahi undergoes physical therapy three or four times a week, while her mom paints her nails and gives her vitamins and fish oil "to feel useful."

I am a parent but I haven't ever lost a child so I can't imagine what the mother is going through. BUT .. brain dead is brain dead. The child isn't in a coma ... she isn't sleeping .... she's dead. And dressing her up like a doll, and sitting her dead body cross legged in bed with headphones on doesn't make her a 'blossoming teenage girl'. I feel for the mother. I really do. I can't imagine what she's going through. And her three living children ... wow ... difficult situation for them too. But the truth is that Jahi isn't sleeping. She's dead.

NY Daily News - Jahi McMath Shows Sign of Improvement
I disagree with the title of this article as well. Mahi McMath is not showing signs of improvement. She's still brain dead. Her mother manipulating the dead body into positions isn't 'improvement'. Having the body twitch after death isn't 'improvement'. What would be improvement is brain activity. There is none.

Winkfield has wagered everything that her little girl can make a full recovery. She quit her job of 12 years at the Home Depot, spends a bulk of her time at the undisclosed facility and admits she has laser-like focus on Jahi, leaving other three children in the care of relatives.

The mother has quit her job and left her other three living children in the care of relatives while she tends to the dead body of Jahi. It sounds like a single parent household. The father isn't mentioned. On a cold reality note - I don't know who is paying for this. Obviously the family can't afford it. No family could. If the facility is paying for it then I"m sure the cost of this is being passed on to others who are there ... nothing is free. Someone always has to pay for it.


So ATS ... your opinion ....

- Should brain dead people have their bodies kept up by machine in case, sometime in the future, medicine will be able to restart dead brains? Or in case of a miracle resurrection from the dead by God?

- Should the sad reality about the situation be forced upon the facility and mother. It's not really a healthy thing for the death rattle to be dragged out like this.

- Or should we all mind our own business .. if someone doesn't mind having a dead teenage body hooked up to machines then who are we to interfere? Let the mother hope for the miracle .. that God will bring her child back from the dead .. and we shouldn't try to force reality upon the players in this situation?

She's blossoming from a vegetable into a tree.

I disagree with keeping brain dead people alive with the use of machines, but if the family is willing and able to pay the bills, I say let them.

Who's to say that 20 or more years down the road we might not be able to "reboot" them, for lack of a better term.

Anything is possible I guess, even if it's extremely unlikely.

The mother need sectioning and to undergo mental health treatment me thinks.

It sounds like she negleting her other children for the sake of a corpse..

This is sad on so many levels.

A mother has left her three still living children in the hope that one whom would have passed without modern life support systems will recover. The ones that need her miss out on their mother while she lives in denial.

Being a Christian, I wonder what happens to that girls soul. Is it trapped in that lifeless body awaiting final death, our had it already departed leaving a truly empty shell?

Its always hard to let someone go and the natural order of things suggests that a parent dies before their child. That being said we have no control over when we are born our when we die for the most part. This lady needs to use her faith in God to trust that her daughter is going to a much better place than she could ever have on this earth

reply to post by FlyersFan


I read this article yesterday and had pretty much the same reaction as you, immense sorrow for the mom and extreme sadness for both Jahi and her siblings who are grieving too and NEED their mom only to be abandoned by her. Maybe that's a somewhat extreme opinion( the abandonment ) but it is none the less true. In my opinion the mother is in extreme denial and simply refuses to give up the ghost. As a parent I'm not sure how I would react if that happened to one of my own and it's kind of difficult to levy that judgement without being in her shoes.

If the money were coming from the family, they could actually afford it and the family weren't split up... I'd likely be more ok with it. But none of that is the case and nobody is willing to disclose exactly how the treatment facility is being paid or where it is. The facility alone is likely very expensive and that's not considering the 4x weekly rehab/PT sessions.

It's a sad situation no matter how you look at it because nobody is expecting their child to go in for a routine procedure and then die from it. Normally, my gut reaction would be to say the mother needs some quality psychiatric assistance to help her with the grieving process and t accept her daughters fate but the levels she has gone to convince herself her daughter will recover makes me think that there's really nothing that will help her short of a "godlike" miracle or her daughters passing.

reply to post by FlyersFan


I'd rather face a firing squad than have to make the call about pulling the plug on one of my children but if they are gone they're gone.


She should pull the plug and let her daughter rest in peace. Make her religious arrangements if she is of faith and turn it over.

reply to post by FlyersFan


Well, I guess at a minimum she's keeping alive all of the daughter's cells, bacteria, mitrocandria (sp) and the other life that makes up her daughter's body. So those billions of lifeforms would surely thank her if they could.

Is there any brainstem activity? I can't see how she could move at all without some of the brainstem being active, and is there any evidence of awareness if the brainstem is still stirring the pot a little?

markosity1973
I wonder what happens to that girls soul. Is it trapped in that lifeless body awaiting final death, our had it already departed leaving a truly empty shell?

I'm pretty sure that souls don't occupy dead bodies. At least, that's what a vast majority of Christians believe as well as most everyone else. Dead is dead. No soul. It's moved out.

We could maybe wonder if the attention the mother is giving the dead body is somehow keeping the soul from moving on. Perhaps the daughter is hanging around the facility watching the mother watch over her .. something like that. Some religions believe that if you pay attention to the dead ... they notice and stick around. If the living can't let them go, then they hang out until the living can handle them moving on.

But as far as the soul of little girl being in the body ... 'no'... according to most of Christianity.
(to the best of my knowledge).

Some fundamentalists think the soul 'sleeps in the grave'. But most Christians don't think that.

Aleister
Is there any brainstem activity?

What I read says ... no.

The mother doesn't understand that dead bodies can twitch and move. Newly dead bodies can even have seizures. It's not uncommon for a body that's been dead for a few hours to seize and have the eyes moving and for noises to come out of the body like they are breathing or gasping. But the person is still dead. (that's in one of my psychology books).

The machines are pumping the blood and moving air into the body. So the body is suspended in the death rattle. It's going to be able to move like other dead bodies can. That doesn't mean she's 'getting better'.

How the Dying Works

10 Bodily Functions That Continue After Death
Including digestion, erections, muscle movement and vocalization

reply to post by FlyersFan


I have researched studies where large amounts of fish oils were injected in comatose patients and their brains healed overnight, literally, these are verified by peer-review and everything.

Fish oil helps ease open the blood-brain barrier I think, possibly helping to get oxygen into affected areas easier, I am not entirely sure. It is also helpful for repairing damaged frontal lobes, which may also be underdeveloped - so it would be a possible permanent help to things like ADHD and such.

darkbake
I have researched studies where large amounts of fish oils were injected in comatose patients and their brains healed overnight

Interesting.
How about large amounts of fish oil injected into the bodies of the brain dead?
Comatose and brain dead ... they are different. But since they both have to do with the brain ....

If she's paying for all this herself then it's her call, it's a family affair and people should butt out. If it's payed for somehow by the taxpayers then the taxpayers should not only know that, but they should have a say. Someone needs to find out where this money is coming from.

Personally, I think she's delusional for forsaking her living children for a dead one. But then again, that's her business.

This is what the family has chosen to do and what the courts have upheld. Some people hold on to hope for longer than others, and of these some see that hope fulfilled.

There is more that we do not know about the brain and brain activity and brain death and consciousness than we know.

Other than that, where they have found the strength and resources to do this is, what they have sacrificed, or how delusional you do or do not believe them to be doesn't really matter.

My family was in a similar situation last year. My cousin was in a car accident and ended up brain dead. They kept him alive on life support, but after about two weeks it was clear he was going to remain that way. My aunt and uncle made the decision to remove him from life support and donate all of his healthy organs.

I can't imagine having to be in that position, but it sure seemed like the right thing to do to our whole family. Plus that way he went out a hero to 22 other families that either had their life saved by his donations or at the very least a much greater quality of life.

My aunt and uncle are very strong people and we have tons of family for support. I can imagine if you aren't as strong and/or don't have as much of a family base for support that it would be much more difficult.

However, I think it's the right thing to do and her daughter can be a hero to many other families instead of just a vegetable.

~Lucidity
Other than that, where they have found the strength and resources to do this is...[snip]

I think what is happening here is a sign of weakness, not strength. She's holding on to something that's gone. Can't say I blame her, but to me it would take much more strength to let her go.

Peacetime
If she's paying for all this herself then it's her call,

She quit her job and is full time sitting by the dead girls side. Her three living children are now in the care of relatives. She's not paying for it herself. (I doubt anyone could ... the cost has to be through the roof). No one will say where the money is coming from to pay for this.

Pimpish

~Lucidity
Other than that, where they have found the strength and resources to do this is...[snip]

I think what is happening here is a sign of weakness, not strength. She's holding on to something that's gone. Can't say I blame her, but to me it would take much more strength to let her go.

unsnip..Other than that, where they have found the strength and resources to do this is, what they have sacrificed, or how delusional you do or do not believe them to be doesn't really matter.

unsnip..Other than that, where they have found the strength and resources to do this is, what they have sacrificed, or how delusional you do or do not believe them to be doesn't really matter.

Agreed. However, this is a board meant for discussion in a topic that someone posted so I put in my opinion as someone who was very close to a very similar situation. We can go ahead and follow that logic and ATS might as well remove about 80% of the posts because what's the point in posting on them when what we think doesn't matter?

I never once said anyone was delusional or anything about resources though. That's none of my business and why I didn't comment on it.

Someone, like a psychiatrist needs to help this poor mom. It just was so unexpected that she will not accept it. This experience was trauma to her mind and I don't she is responsible enough to make decisions.

reply to post by Pimpish

No. You're right. You just gave your opinion on strength.

As to the rest, sometimes abstaining from voicing your opinion without knowing the facts or walking in a person's shoes is the very thing to do. Even on a discussion board.

To truly discuss this on a medical issues and conspiracies board, we would have to approach it from either the scientific angle or the conspiracy angle. Neither of which I've seen much (if any) of here thus far.