In Memory of Peter Jarowey Help Family in Need
Donation protected
This young girl and her family face extraordinary obstacles on a daily basis.
I now have permission to share more details on her story. I have more 'medical' pictures of Lexi that show her central venous line and G tube and J tube, and her appearance in sicker moments, but given the legal battle underway, I cannot risk over-medicalizing her.
Lexi has been very medically complex since infancy. Her many medical conditions - seizures, gut dysmotility and malabsorbtion, food intolerance, muscle fatigue, chronic fatigue, severe headaches, temperature dysregulation, sleep apnea to name a few - require significant medical treatments and medications for long term survival. Her mother has worked tirelessly to provide Lexi with a normal life, always including her in everything her family and friends were doing and then some. Lexi's care has been a 24/7 task with meds and treatments thru the night, so, for as much as possible, Lexi has needed 24 hour nursing care which fell to her mom when home nurses were not available. Thru years of sleepless nights, her mom did all that was needed as a single mom without complaint or the added acknowledgment that her levels of exhaustion and stress were taking a toll on her own medical conditions, and on Lexi's two siblings.
For over 14 years, I was one of Lexi's home nurses. I spent countless hours and days and entire weeks taking care of Lexi, both in her own home and at my home. She became family to me and to Peter and to some of my own kids. Lexi is one of the more generous, kind and compassionate old souls that I know, and she rarely complains about the constant pain and discomfort she experiences, or the stares of strangers who wonder why she carries a backpack with a curly tube attached to her chest - her TPN, fluids and meds that are on a pump. She makes friends where ever she goes and always thinks of others before herself.
In March 2019, quite inexplicably, a clinician requested that 19 y/o Lexi be made a ward of the state and removed from the custodial care of her mother. I cannot go into details on the case as it is still going thru the court system - which is proving to be highly skewed towards those who can buy the time of the most lawyers - i.e., the hospital and state agencies who are now trying to defend themselves against wrongful actions taken without the slightest evidence of wrongdoing, and increasing evidence of poor care and medical management by the accusers and state caretakers. Those arguing in the Court for Lexi's continued state custody have no clinical training, nor do they seem to be interested in the medical/social facts of this case.
Lexi's mom is struggling at all costs, literally, to continue to fight for Lexi to be released from state custody and returned home from the deplorable conditions at the state institution she is being forced to live in. Lexi is the only ambulatory patient with full mental capacity being housed at the institution, and with only supervised limited visitation from her family, she is nothing less than an inmate being held prisoner against her will. The battle in the court is being dragged out while Lexi suffers daily and, more recently, suffers declining medical status.
The tragedy of this is beyond comprehension. I ache daily for Lexi and her family, and I worry as well that irreversible emotional and physical harm is being suffered by a completely and utterly innocent young woman. She makes constant mature and well thought out requests to be released and to go home. It is sickening that those viewing themselves as her "saviors" are more interested in being right than admitting that they are, in fact, severely punishing the person they purport to be protecting, and furthermore, wrong about their accusations against her mom.
Lexi was very special to my husband, Peter Jarowey, who died suddenly and unexpectedly on 9/9/19. Just before he died, he had talked at length about wanting to do whatever we could to help her and her family in this time of major financial and personal upheaval. This family has never asked for or been willing to accept help, even when it was very much needed over the 14+ years she has been part of our lives.
As someone he viewed as family of his own - he was like a grandfather to her - he had finally decided enough is enough, and wanted to extend help no matter what. He died before he could make that a reality.
That's the story of why I decided to ask for support for her and her family from all those who knew and loved Peter over the years. He had no idea how many of you there are, and this effort is all many of us may have left to actively do something in his memory to make a difference. Their situation is dire enough that literally any amount will help, and by the same token, the most you can afford may literally be life saving.
Thank you for your consideration of any donation amount. Peter would have been so very grateful to anyone who is willing to help.
I now have permission to share more details on her story. I have more 'medical' pictures of Lexi that show her central venous line and G tube and J tube, and her appearance in sicker moments, but given the legal battle underway, I cannot risk over-medicalizing her.
Lexi has been very medically complex since infancy. Her many medical conditions - seizures, gut dysmotility and malabsorbtion, food intolerance, muscle fatigue, chronic fatigue, severe headaches, temperature dysregulation, sleep apnea to name a few - require significant medical treatments and medications for long term survival. Her mother has worked tirelessly to provide Lexi with a normal life, always including her in everything her family and friends were doing and then some. Lexi's care has been a 24/7 task with meds and treatments thru the night, so, for as much as possible, Lexi has needed 24 hour nursing care which fell to her mom when home nurses were not available. Thru years of sleepless nights, her mom did all that was needed as a single mom without complaint or the added acknowledgment that her levels of exhaustion and stress were taking a toll on her own medical conditions, and on Lexi's two siblings.
For over 14 years, I was one of Lexi's home nurses. I spent countless hours and days and entire weeks taking care of Lexi, both in her own home and at my home. She became family to me and to Peter and to some of my own kids. Lexi is one of the more generous, kind and compassionate old souls that I know, and she rarely complains about the constant pain and discomfort she experiences, or the stares of strangers who wonder why she carries a backpack with a curly tube attached to her chest - her TPN, fluids and meds that are on a pump. She makes friends where ever she goes and always thinks of others before herself.
In March 2019, quite inexplicably, a clinician requested that 19 y/o Lexi be made a ward of the state and removed from the custodial care of her mother. I cannot go into details on the case as it is still going thru the court system - which is proving to be highly skewed towards those who can buy the time of the most lawyers - i.e., the hospital and state agencies who are now trying to defend themselves against wrongful actions taken without the slightest evidence of wrongdoing, and increasing evidence of poor care and medical management by the accusers and state caretakers. Those arguing in the Court for Lexi's continued state custody have no clinical training, nor do they seem to be interested in the medical/social facts of this case.
Lexi's mom is struggling at all costs, literally, to continue to fight for Lexi to be released from state custody and returned home from the deplorable conditions at the state institution she is being forced to live in. Lexi is the only ambulatory patient with full mental capacity being housed at the institution, and with only supervised limited visitation from her family, she is nothing less than an inmate being held prisoner against her will. The battle in the court is being dragged out while Lexi suffers daily and, more recently, suffers declining medical status.
The tragedy of this is beyond comprehension. I ache daily for Lexi and her family, and I worry as well that irreversible emotional and physical harm is being suffered by a completely and utterly innocent young woman. She makes constant mature and well thought out requests to be released and to go home. It is sickening that those viewing themselves as her "saviors" are more interested in being right than admitting that they are, in fact, severely punishing the person they purport to be protecting, and furthermore, wrong about their accusations against her mom.
Lexi was very special to my husband, Peter Jarowey, who died suddenly and unexpectedly on 9/9/19. Just before he died, he had talked at length about wanting to do whatever we could to help her and her family in this time of major financial and personal upheaval. This family has never asked for or been willing to accept help, even when it was very much needed over the 14+ years she has been part of our lives.
As someone he viewed as family of his own - he was like a grandfather to her - he had finally decided enough is enough, and wanted to extend help no matter what. He died before he could make that a reality.
That's the story of why I decided to ask for support for her and her family from all those who knew and loved Peter over the years. He had no idea how many of you there are, and this effort is all many of us may have left to actively do something in his memory to make a difference. Their situation is dire enough that literally any amount will help, and by the same token, the most you can afford may literally be life saving.
Thank you for your consideration of any donation amount. Peter would have been so very grateful to anyone who is willing to help.
Organizer
Constance Jarowey
Organizer
Seattle, WA