Flashing a handsome smile and hugging a heart-shaped pillow to his chest, 18-year-old Janarie Payton looks like any girl's dream date.
The pillow isn't for a girl though. Signed by his surgeons, nurses and other patients, it helps keep his arms locked in an embrace to aid the healing of his sternum after open-heart surgery Nov. 5 at Mayo Clinic. It's also a souvenir showing he made it, thanks to the help of his family and community.
Janarie was just 16 when he suffered what he can best describe as a heart attack.
"Out of nowhere, I had difficulty breathing and chest pains," he said.
He was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and chronic pericarditis, a swelling and irritation of the membrane surrounding the heart.
Move for care
At that point he and his mother, Rhonda Payton, better known as Miss Rhonda, moved from Atlanta to her hometown of Vancouver, Wash., so Janarie could be treated at Legacy Emanuel Children's Hospital in Portland. After heart surgery there wasn't successful, Janarie's doctors recommended he be seen at Mayo Clinic.
A second move and the cost of a second surgery overwhelmed the family, but Rhonda wasn't about to be beat.
She collected donations from the football fans headed to the stadium near her home where she cooked hot dogs, Polish sausages, baked beans and potato salad to sell. After being shut down for not having a permit, she was invited into the stadium by the football team, which helped the community get behind her cause.
Donations paid for Janarie's airplane ticket to Rochester. He came with his father, Bob Herbert, while his mother continued to collect donations back home. Soon afterward, she filled a donated U-Haul with her belongings and drove to Rochester accompanied by her brother, Carlos Bowen, and 6-year-old grandson, Jordan. They arrived days before Janarie's surgery.
Rochester support
It was hard for her to leave the rest of her family and the community that supported them, but in a short time here, the Paytons are starting to find similar support.
The night before Thanksgiving, a cab driver who'd they'd ridden with on several trips to the hospital, stopped by their house with a complete turkey dinner, Rhonda said. Staff from Riverside Central Elementary, where Jordan is starting first grade have also helped the family, she said.
School counselor Kylie Rogalla, who registered Janarie for classes at Hawthorne Education Center, remains touched by Rhonda's commitment.
"She's a very God-loving person," Rogalla said. "She's relying purely on faith that one day she will be rewarded for all the work she's done. But she's not worried about that now, just that Janarie gets better."
Catching up on the schooling he's missed the past two years is Janarie's first step toward his ultimate goal of becoming a doctor. Rhonda too has a goal. She wants to start Miss Rhonda's Barbecue as a way to help kids like Janarie whose families can't afford treatment, she said. Her cooking, she said, is "off the chain, chain."
And while she worried about whether she can afford the latest round of medical bills or even Christmas gifts, Rhonda expressed her gratitude for all they've received.
"I want to tell them, Miss Rhonda said thank you," she said. To see more of the Post-Bulletin, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.postbulletin.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2008, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.