Posted on 07/16/2006 5:56:46 PM PDT by Graybeard58
NAUGATUCK -- Dezerene Thompson was forced to make a decision late Wednesday night that all mothers pray they won't have to make.
Her daughter, 12-year-old Mariah Mahabeer, was on a table with breathing tubes keeping her alive at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford after the girl was pulled from the Naugatuck River earlier that day.
Thompson said doctors told her that her daughter had been severely brain damaged because she was submerged under water for 20 to 30 minutes. Only 5 percent of Mahabeer's brain was functioning, and she would probably never regain movement in any part of her body, Thompson said doctors told her.
After five lengthy, heartfelt and painful discussions with her family, Thompson decided to let her daughter rest in peace at 12:55 a.m. Thursday.
"Just before she took her last breath, a tear came down her face," Thompson said. "It was the most difficult decision of my life. But I couldn't let her live like that."
Thompson described her daughter, whom she adopted in Jamaica when the girl was 2 weeks old, as a fun person who loved everyone.
"She didn't care who a person was or what they did," said Thompson, a nurse's assistant. "She just loved everyone."
Mahabeer moved here with her mother, father and two brothers from the Bronx in New York City in February. Immediately, she became friends with everyone in her Stanley Street neighborhood near St. Hedwig's Roman Catholic Church, according to neighbor Cheryl Buckley.
"A couple of weeks ago she told me how much she loved her new home, and how much she appreciated all her parents had done for her by moving her here," Buckley said. "She would come up to me to talk about anything. How many children would go talk to an adult like that?"
Buckley, who said she has breathing problems, would go outside and sit on her porch frequently. She wouldn't be there long before Mahabeer, who often played basketball near Buckley's house, would come over to ask if her breathing was OK and whether she needed anything.
"She had a heart of gold," said her brother, Jerome "Jerry" Mahabeer, an adult.
Though she was the youngest of her family, Mahabeer tried to take care of everyone, Buckley said. She said the girl, who always wanted to help her mother cook and clean, was excited recently because she learned how to use the dishwasher and washing machine.
Most of the time, Mahabeer would do what was asked of her, and would sometimes do chores, such as cleaning, even when she wasn't asked.
But on Wednesday, Mahabeer, like children often do, ignored her mother's orders, and it proved fatal.
The night before, her friends were over for dinner," Thompson said. "They told me they were going to swim in the river the next day. I told Mariah, 'You are not going.'"
Thompson said neighbors later told her that the next day, while Thompson was at work, five of Mahabeer's friends rang the doorbell and knocked on the door until Mahabeer answered. While her older brother, Mario, was upstairs, the girl left the house to go to Linden Park without saying a word.
Some of the children, who police said were between the ages of 12 and 14, went into the water. Mahabeer, who couldn't swim, was among them.
She waded into a pool where the water was about 5-or-6 feet deep, police said. She was pulled underwater and dragged about 200 feet downstream toward the Maple Street Bridge just before 1 p.m.
A girl, whom police would not identify, swam toward Mahabeer and tried to pull her toward the shore.
"That girl is a hero in my eyes," said Allen, Mahabeer's cousin.
Another friend called 911 and emergency workers arrived within a couple of minutes and pulled Mahabeer to the shore. Emergency crews said the whole rescue took less than eight minutes, and they put her in an ambulance, which took the girl to Waterbury Hospital. She was later transported to Hartford.
"The day before she died, she asked me if I was saving for her to go to college," Thompson said as tears streamed down her face. "I said, 'Don't you worry about that. When the time comes, you will go to college.' "
Mahabeer's brother, Jerry, said his sister once talked about being a nurse like her mother.
"She could have been whatever she wanted," he said. "She was so talented ..."
and had such a bright future."
:-(
RIP.
Nope.
what exactly does it mean?
I'd like to know too. Sounds trollish doesn't it?
The mod can tell who adds keywords.
Thanks for posting.
This is a heart wrenching story. Prayers for her family.
Terrible
RIP
Keyword is gone.
I'm not a parent yet and I honestly can't imagine having to deal with this type of situation.
I can't imagine what this family is going through right now.
and I reported that keyword for you. That was completely inappropriate given the subject material.
I just received word that some friends, who have have been trying to adopt a child for fifteen? years, were finally successful.
My excitement was partially the reason I screwed up the PM to you.
Congrats to your friends.
I understood every word you said.
My wife and I have 4 adult children, 12 grand children and one great grand child.
God has truly blessed us.
I didn't even make the connection when I first saw that key word. It just looked like some nonsense syllables strung together.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been blessed with a large family and all healthy too.
Best wishes for you when you get ready to start your's.
Removing a respirator from a brain dead patient is not euthanasia. It is the withholding of extraordinary measures, totally different from withholding food.
bet it has something to do with terri schiavo...
Even you can not seriously claim with a straight face that the best medical prognosis, and ethical procedures were followed correctly in this case.
There was not even time for serious physical test results to be returned, let alone requiring a second opinion before a child was "forced to die with dignity"!
Yeah, it means Terri Bot Bait. There's a huge difference between removing a breathing tube and the Terri situation. Prayers for her parents. Tragic situation.
You make a good point.
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