The Family of Iris Bowen and Errol Nelson

Hello, My name is John Gargano and I am a personal friend of Iris Bowen and her family. Two days ago, Errol Nelson, 20 years old, was killed in a tragic motorcycle accident. Errol leaves behind a 3-year-old son Malachi Nelson.

If you are a friend of mine, you might remember reading about Iris in my HumansofNY story, if you did not read about it before, I share it here....

After six months the halfway house wanted to discharge me into the NYC shelter system; I didn’t know what to do. It would have broken me. It was another inmate that suggested I meet with Iris. She was a case manager at Mt. Sinai Hospital, working out of a 6x6 office. Nothing on the walls. I went there wanting to hate her, but I couldn’t. She was like Oprah: her voice was calm and comforting. We started going over my health questionnaire, and my entire history was in there. She wanted to know everything. No judgment. She just seemed interested; that’s all. Afterward, she told me her own story. She’d gone to prison for her boyfriend’s drugs. Sixteen years; almost the same time as me. Now she was raising five kids. The youngest daughter died of cancer. Yet here she was: working 80 hours a week, in a 6x6 box, helping other people. She was one of the givers. Iris got me an apartment. She arranged my hip surgeries. She got me into a job training program. In the program they teach you to be upfront about your history: tell them before they ask.

Errol's Mom died of cancer in 2018 and now he leaves behind this beautiful little boy and we can ease their pain by helping them in their time of need, something Iris does every single day of her life. Join me as I try to help them.

News Feed about the Accident