European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 06, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse That s Why we hesitated about sending him Down to Houston again. He s been feeling better these past few months than he Ever has since he got sick. He s a real research kid. Doctors All Over the world Are she named a nationally known medical enter. They wanted him but they said they would t accept the results of any previous tests. And we Felt we just could t put him through All that again. It s better that he s Here with us and he can die Happy if it comes to that and not be in some Hospital with All those Needles and tubes sticking out of him. He s been i through enough of that. 1 when he was worst from january to july of 1975, his fever never got below 103," she said. Once it got to 108 and according to medical science he should have brain damage. But he s exhibited no sign of it. I Don t know How Many times we thought we d lost someone wondered Bow do they do it Day after i Day year after year often having endured for Long stretches of time on Uuie or no Hope. De White a quiet Man by nature thought a minute. He had been letting Cindy do most of the talking As he sat i sipping his Coffee and eating his donuts. A lot of it is i making up your mind to do he said. And when you make up your mind to do it then you can do there was something else too. The word is not men " toned but it is everywhere abundant in Jason White s re stricter world love. De White like us wife was born in Hope where 1 his family owned a general merchandise store and another in nearby Fulton. They also owned several farms and were considered prosperous for the time t and place. White played ugh school football ape o Cial izing in place kicking and attended Souh trn state College now Southern Arkansas graduated in natural sciences with a major in y chemistry and physics and a minor in math and edus cation. He returned to Hope where he coached foot Ball and taught math and chemistry for the next is years. He married Cindy dec. 27,1869. In 1972, with Jason desperately sick the medical Bills multiplying he quit his Job then paying $7,200 a year to take one at the Hope Auto co. Selling cars for $600 a year More. We needed the Money he , 45, is a big Man with a Low key sense of humor fond of putting a plug of red Man tobacco behind his Cheek and talking quietly of How it was. Did he miss football miss it bad he said shifting his feet on the Walkway outside their White five room Frame House the dark Clouds slipping swiftly across the � face of the full Moon. The Golden toe i was he. C the talk was Light of baseball and Golf and now batters had trouble mastering a Golf swing. It turned at last As always to Jason and spent every cent i had he said and every cent i could get or borrow. 1 spent All my savings the downplay ment 1 had put Back for a House everything Between $21,000 and $22,000. That went in a mom sold the last farm and gave me $12,000 i Borj rowed about $6,000 from some and so it drama away. 6, 1977 the Cost of Jason s treatment at one Point put the White s nearly $150.000 in 1973, the Hope Lions club raised $27,598.20, much of it contributions of $10, $20 and $50, according to Royce Pendergrass Lions club president. The last of that Money was spent this year. In january 1974, after the whiles moved to Tex Arkana the commercial National Bank of Texarkana opened a Jason White fund. Contributions most of them in the Begum no totalled $4,351.43 As of april 1. The Bank balance on that Date was $4.82. One bag of the hype alimentation fluid costs $36.50 from the pharmacy at Wedley Hospital. Jason averages about one a Day Down from three a Day when he was on it full time during the week and sometimes two bags a Day on the weekend when he is resting or on bad Days when he is sick. These costs average close to $1,400 per month. Jason is prescribed 21 separate medications Many of them antibiotics because the incision in his Chest makes him susceptible to infection. The three main antibiotics and their monthly costs Are strap Cillin $504 pol Cillin $252 and Gerthro Mycon $171. Those alone total More than de White s salary for the of March 28, they owed Wadley pharmacy $13,146, their one outstanding major medical debt at present. White said Wadley had been paid Between $36,000 and $37,000 during the course of Jason s illness. He estimates Between $115,000 and $120,000 has been spent on medical costs since Jason was bom. Initially White had one group health insurance policy that paid for a year. Since he has been with Hope Auto co., he has had three group policies each cancelling out after a year or two because of the High Cost of Jason s Don t really cancel out they just make the premiums so High we can t afford them White said. Last year their insurance coverage paid $40,000 to Wadley and Southern clinic where or. Hall practices. But Southern did t get their full share because they be done so much they Haven t charged us for White the Gastrectomy Jason has had two other major operations one exploratory and another to Correct a blocked intestine. Three or four times a year he needs minor surgery to replace the Catheter in his White puts his hands in his pockets and watches the Clouds Glide by the Moon. You know he just might make it might grow the big Man smiles. When he says his prayers at night he prays one Day he won t have to have that tube in Bright Sunshine dapples the Maple Trees along Locust Avenue and budding Maple seedlings pull Loose in the Light Breeze spinning Down on Wing like leaves. Yellow Jonquil Beds Are in Bloom and purple hyacinths Spring wild in patches along the curbing. A Small face appears in the window facing the front porch at 1106 Locust following a Knock on the door bolts open and the Little fellow doing the open ing Speaks right up. Come on in he says. My mom will be Here in a claps his hands together briskly several times. Come on and sit Down he says. He is excited Happy to see company. He dans into his room and out again with an armful of stuffed animals. Six year old Jason White pleads tearfully for one More minute before his Mother Hooks up Catheter protruding from an incision in her son s Chest. He introduces the menagerie laying them in the Visi Tor s Lap that s croak the Frog. This one is cheetah a Monkey and Tom a do Gand this one s Barney a Rabbit. They All sleep with Cindy White comes in smiles and says hello. He won t go to bed without them she says. But Jason wants to talk. I used to be real he says. Did you know that yes the visitor knew. Jason strikes a body building pose flexing and making a muscle in his right Arm. My mus cles Haven t formed up if they Haven t it does t show. For Here stands As Bright and bubbly a one is Apt to find any where. Jason strides to the front door where a miniature Bicy Cle with training wheels attached is parked. He peddles it across the living room. Be careful his Mother warns. Jason wants to go outside. O.k., says his Mother and he is out the door and gone. He s just hyper when we take him off the tube she says. I took him off just before you got Here. He did t have a very Good night and he did t go to school outside Jason climbers Over to the fort built some thing like a bunk bed a Sandbox on the lower deck and Wood flooring on the second Story set behind 12-Inch-High wooden Walls. He climbs his Stepladder. Plenty of room up there for a fellow to Crouch Down and watch out for indians or enemy soldiers. He climbs Down again and Bounds away Down the Side walk stopping by a bed of Clover blossoms to pick some. If his movements seem Only the slightest bit Rusty it s because the visitor knows. Back comes Jason. He presents his mom with a bouquet and then climbs into a thick climbed scrub Bush growing by the Maple tree. He is humming and singing a Little tuneless song words and music by Jason White. You can t find me he Calls out from inside the Bush. And sure enough the visitor has a hard time his efforts drawing barrages of giggles from the object of his he moves to the tether Ball swinging from the Maple tree. Catch it he tells his visitor. And the two play pitching it Back and Forth. Jason occasionally let Ting it Bounce off his head breaking himself up with his own Abbott and costello he runs Over to ride his Bike some More. And finally his Mother Calls out. Time to go Back in. That is bad news. His eyes begin to brim with Comers of his Mouth turn Down. There is a plea in his voice i want to stay unhooked. I just got to stay unhooked for a minute. I never have any you have to get hooked Back up says his mom. Scooting him Back up the sidewalk toward the front door. You were sick yesterday and if you Don t get hooked Back up you won t be Able to go to school inside they go to his room and Cindy helps him strip Down to his shorts helping Peel off the Little Polo shirt. Underneath the shirt the three Inch extremity of the Catheter is held Flat against his Chest by a Gauze pad held Down by adhesive tape. I Don t want to get booked up he cries big tears spilling out and rolling Down us Cheeks. I Jurt wish i bad something to but Jason knows the score and gradually he subsides As Cindy goes about the work. Can i have something if i Stop crying he asks. You can have some she says. All right Jason says composing himself. And now he is reattached to the system his world reduced to a radius of six feet bounded on his right by the bed. On his left by the window looking onto the front porch by his Little desk in front of him and by the bedroom Wall behind where the bag of fluid hangs. He sits in his chair in front of the desk folding his hands on top and looks reflectively out of the window. Outside on the porch Cindy White has More to say. This last year since he s been Home he s been asking More questions. When he was in the Hospital All the time he did t notice any difference. But now he wonders Why he has to be hooked school the other Flay they passed out some Fortune cookies and told each child to make a wish. Jason told me he wished he could take out his tube forever and never Hurt anymore. Then he told his teacher the cookies did t he gets to feeling a Little sorry for himself but he does pretty Well. I never think that he May actually grow up some Day. I just take it on a Day to Day basis. That s the Only Way you can take it. We really enjoy having him at the stars and stripes Poge 15
