Posted on 07/19/2007 3:13:29 PM PDT by Squidpup
PASCAGOULA -- Chemicals from a methamphetamine dump exploded in the face of a 9-year-old boy, leaving him virtually blind in both eyes.
"I just never dreamed this could happen," Mona Leissa Polk said as she cradled her son, Isaiah. "He's been so strong through this. He hasn't cried or even complained once. He's my hero."
Isaiah, along with three friends, 6-year-old Kaimen Lowery, 8-year-old Noel Jones and 9-year-old Wendell Williams were playing in the woods behind the Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer park they live in last week.
While exploring and talking about possibly fishing in a nearby pond, the boys found a duffel bag. They decided to take the bag with them and carried it all over the trailer park for several hours.
Eventually, their curiosity took over and that's when tragedy erupted.
"It was just a Coke bottle," Isaiah said as he remembered opening the bag. "It looked normal, but then it blew up in my face. I don't remember much. Just that it was hard to breathe and it burned. It burned a lot."
Isaiah's aunt, Lashandra Cook, heard the explosion and was the second adult to rush to Isaiah's aid. She said her neighbor, Victor Jones, was flushing Isaiah's face with a water hose.
"I couldn't figure out what was going on," Cook said. "And then he turned him around and I saw his face. I just started crying. I cried for him. I didn't know what else to do but cry. He was screaming for help and I couldn't help him. He said he couldn't breathe. I wanted to breathe for him."
Isaiah was rushed to the emergency room at Singing River Hospital where he was air lifted to the University of Alabama Children's Hospital in Birmingham, Ala. He was then sent to the Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital, also in Birmingham, where a specialist told Polk Isaiah's eye prognosis is dim.
"He will probably lose his left eye and they said if that happens he'll have to have a glass," Polk said as tears filled her eyes. "But they are hopeful he'll keep his right eye," she said as she gently caressed her son's head.
Currently, the honor roll student and football player can only see blurry shapes and fuzzy shadows. His dark brown eyes look cloudy, with a blue glaze. His face has second degree burns in several places and is discolored from the marks.
Polk must protect Isaiah's eyes by placing three different kinds of eye drops in his eyes every two hours. She also must put a cream in his eyes before bed each night. Polk said Isaiah's face will heal without scars, but his eye recovery will be the biggest struggle her family has to face.
"We'll make something good from it," Polk said as she put her arms lovingly around her son. "We won't let this stop your dreams."
Polk is also worried about the emotional effects the incident could have on her son.
"He said he didn't want to go with me to Wal-Mart because now he's ugly," Polk said choking back tears. "But, he's not ugly. He's beautiful. I don't understand this lifestyle. To make drugs where there are so many children playing is ungodly. I pray for strength to get through this."
Polk said she and her family have lived in the FEMA trailer park, which is on Jefferson Avenue, for nearly two years. She said it has always been peaceful.
Curtis Spiers, commander of the Narcotics Task Force of Jackson County, said in the past they've been called to the FEMA trailer park, but no arrests have been made.
"Cooks will take make the meth in a wooded area so their neighbors are not tipped off from the smell," Spiers said. "Typically it's a very strong ammonia smell and when they're done they just dump the chemicals there."
He said several other duffel bags containing chemicals to manufacture meth were recovered at the site and the incident is currently under investigation.
As an investigation to find those responsible is launched, Isaiah's battle is just beginning.
The family is without insurance. Polk said she has applied for Medicaid, but with medical bills already totaling more that $10,000 she's afraid it will not be enough.
Anyone wishing to assist the Polk family can visit any Hancock Bank and make a donation to the Isaiah Polk Benefit Fund.
Polk and Isaiah leave for Jackson today to explore the possibility of corneal transplants in an effort to save his vision.
"I want to be a doctor," Isaiah said. "And I've always loved science. Somehow, I won't let this stop me."
Reporter Cherie Ward can be reached at cward@themississippipress.com or (228) 934-1442.
Question: Duffel bags containing explosive chemicals are left abandoned because (a) meth is legal or (b) meth is illegal?
Those damn pot heads.
I don’t think the legality of meth is the issue here. Basically some highly irresponsible person left hazardous materials just lying around.
It’s really no different than loading up a gun and tossing it into the woods.
Meth is bad stuff, and makes people do stupid and dangerous things. Here is a prime example.
Even if meth was legal, meth heads would still be cooking up their crap and they would leave their crap laying around because they’re meth heads with the attention span of a gnat.
That boy is a victim because druggies are stupid careless gits, not because their poison of choice is illegal.
Maybe the duffel bag of discarded chemicals was abandoned because the owner didn’t want it in his own trailer. Maybe the owner didn’t want to have the mess explode in his face.
I don’t remember a single incident like this prior to 1973, yet I heard a song before then that sang about “mother’s little helpers” which was a common place occurrence during that and previous eras.
God, help this child.
Taxpayer-funded FEMA will take the financial fall for this......
Tip to law enforcement:
Look for the person or persons who have rotted teeth and open sores on their face.
Tweekers can’t hide the fact that they are meth addicts for very long.
Then again, it is rational for a criminal seeking to avoid capture to not retain evidence of a crime.
I guess if meth were legal, home factories would be properly supervised and regulated at state expense. /sarc
Maybe they’ll just lump into the law suit about the formaldehyde in the trailers.
I always said that you can’t give anything to people that they didn’t earn. The recipients never appreciate anything that is free. Maybe if they didn’t stay in the trailers so long, the formaldehyde wouldn’t have bothered them so much.
Better yet, they should have given them used trailers that had been all aired out.
(c) those that are of low enough character to make the crap do not care if they leave explosive chemicals for kids to find.
I’m pretty sure that “mother’s little helpers” is a reference to valium and other prescription drugs commonly prescribed to bored housewives in the 50’s and 60’s.
Could be, from my perspective, my mom, aunts and grandmother all saw the same doctor for amphetamines commonly used for dieting and “pep”. They thought of them as “helpers.”
Bless his little heart! I hope he keeps that strength to find his way in the world! My just younger sister works at the country courthouse; she runs an alternative sentencing program for drug users. She said that meth addiction is just about the worst of the street drugs. I’ll have to call her to see if she knows some more about this.
Hell, they don't care if they make it in the trailer WITH the kids there!
Dude..........the Stones song was about prescribed uppers and downers and had NOTHING to do with homemade meth.
Mother’s Little Helper
By Jagger/Richards
What a drag it is getting old
“Kids are different today,”
I hear ev’ry mother say
Mother needs something today to calm her down
And though she’s not really ill
There’s a little yellow pill
She goes running for the shelter of a mother’s little helper
And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day
snip
http://www.mattsmusicpage.com/rollingstones/lmother.htm
One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don’t do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she’s ten feet tall
(Jefferson Airplane)
Yes it is different.
What if the gun was legally owned?
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