Jackson

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This is a testimonial page from my life I hope causes you to enjoy every moment you have.
January 13, 2004
I got up late as I had many Tuesdays before, to start my gargantuan run from the bathroom to the ironing board in less than twenty minutes. In my attempt to make it to school on time (good idea especially when you're the teacher!), I peeped outside between the plants I had strategically placed in my window to see what type of weather we are having and to also pick up a fashion choice for the day.
I noticed someone again standing in the doorway of the Mercy Wellness Building but staring up at my windows from across the street. He looked like the guy I saw that Friday afternoon. Since I was in from school that night and had the lights out, I wasn't about to feed into anything but getting my nap on so I can stay up on the computer later! Naw, I didn't have time to feed into how it maybe had something to do with the threat that came across my desk that week.
Let me catch you up.
That Friday was Day Two of a message relayed to me through a student in my science class. She slid out of her seat to my desk (without raising her hand first , no doubt!) and begun her barrage of questions. Instead of being a tightbutt, going over the rules she broke, I listened. She asked me did I have a niece and called her by name. Before I had a chance to answer, she, went on and reported she didn't know why she (my niece) stopped coming to Dance Class. Now, the fact that this just happened intrigued me to how well she knew my family. She went on without my ever needing to comment. She stated that she knew a sister and a brother of mine, but the brother didn't come around anymore. I knew the brother she named just stopped coming around because he had his tires slashed after trying to serve a restraining order to my brother who, according to the word on the street, had a "hit" out on all his brothers. So the questions were starting to get uncomfortably close now. She went on without any hesitation! She told how she knew another brother of mine, naming the brother who had created several terrorist situations at my mother's home. She ended her conversation with "he wants you to know he knows where you work now."
Thank GOD class was over in a few minutes and I had a prep following! I calmly escorted the class out to their teacher and in less than five minutes, composed a letter to go to the school security and eventually the principal concerning this incident. The school police took it all very calmly and guided me to contacting my brother who sent the "message" from the school office phone. He calmly took over the conversation I was having with my brother and asked him not to come to the school with the disagreement he had with me or else face being arrested. Unfortunately, my brother called back several times becoming exceedingly rude and offensive in the messages he left to the school secretary, principal, school police and another staffer who answered. The school police was too kind to walk me to my mother's block (only two blocks away) to insure my safe travel home. My weekend was uneventful, although I was out visiting a friend who just got out of the hospital and trying to locate some bar magnets for my classroom, Saturday. That Sunday at church was very stressful, for I just let go and broke down in front of everybody under the pressure of all the terror my family had endured and the nothing-but-trusting-the-Lord-stance I have taken concerning the craziness my family was experiencing. I loved my brother still although he had attacked one of my other brothers and left him to die in my mother's home a couple of weeks ago and had beat up my little sister a month before. The "hits" my brother had out on us was discovered before my mother left for Florida two weeks earlier. One brother was about to be drawn out to be shot when the guy recognized him and told him not to leave the porch area. Later, he was told how my other brother had set up that all of us get shot by some members of his "drug family".
No, none of these things really hit my head that Tuesday..........Monday had been a successful day with my students and getting the Science Fair off, so far. As I left my apartment deciding whether to take SEPTA (our public transportation service) to school or scope out a new route to school, none of those things mattered. I just had to get there, safely. I was dressed with a taupe tapestry theme to honor the weather and season of the day. It was the same fabric a dear friend gave me to create a set before she died. Everyone loved it and I needed some of that love today.
"Hey, those are some nice coats you have! Yall give them away?" a stranger asked me after I locked the door. I left the doorway and ignored his response 'cause you know how we do in Philly! Hold eye contact only if you wish to have a conversation! The guy followed me down the block, to the Laundramats, where I bent down and greeted some children I used to teach from another school. The guy yelled out again, "Yo, those are some nice coats, yall giving away any?" I sorta answered him without lookin' at him something like "come later this afternoon" while crossing the street to get away from him and to start my different trek to school. That's when he yelled out, "Yo, I'm tired of all the games you're been playin'! Throw your wallet on the ground and get on your knees, M*th*rf*ck*h!"
That's when I looked directly at him and let my eyes travel south. He was baring the gun he had in his pocket and had hot hatred in his eyes. I threw the wallet over to him. "Man, there go all my driving lesson money!" I thought. Funny the things that goes through your mind when it's in overdrive! He repeated his statement. "You have been playing too many m*th*rf*ck*n tricks with me and the family, yo I told you! Get on your knees!"
As I descended to my knees I cried out, "Jesus, have mercy, please!" And it happened. It felt like a nerf ball hit the left side of my cheek. I looked down and could not believe the amount of blood that was flowing. "He shot me, he shot me!" I screamed out as I ran across the street. The SEPTA guys were on rush hour and I recognized both of them. I screamed out for help, but they flagged me to cross the street. One did dial 911 and report what he saw. The ladies of the Laundramat saw and tried to shoo me out of the store. Only one guy tried to work with me; he knew I had a cellphone and told me to call 911! I did and stayed on my cellphone answering idiotic questions, realizing they are just making sure I stayed conscious until they got there. It was a miracle that they did respond as soon as they did( within five minutes!). My last memories are filled with giving phone numbers out of people to be contacted; my mother, my landlady, my school.
The bullet travelled through my cheek, blasted out of my left jaw, reentered my body just above my collarbone, shot past all my vital organs (my heart and lungs). It then tore through my diaphragm, nicked my spleen, spliced the arteries to my liver before it finally landed in my stomach. The doctors had to cut me from my sternum to right above my pubis to repair my diaphragm and remove the bullet out of my stomach. A tube was lanced into my side to keep the fluids gathering on my lungs from collasping them and to stop pneumonia from taking place. I had a feeding tube to keep me hydrated, since the tracheotomy prevented any passage of fluids through my mouth. My mouth was wired shut and stayed that way for two months to stablize my jaw. For the next two weeks I was in serious pain; I had to decide to stay awake or drown in my own spit. Those daily one hour naps really were godsends! As I slowly regained my health, I was plagued every night with vivid flashbacks and other delusional night terrors as my mind tried to cope with the fact I was shot by my kid brother. It took all my strength to walk across the room, climb a flight of stairs, or concentrate! I forgot more than I remembered and never remembered what I had forgotten. Right now, I still have some more surgeries set up to reconstruct my jawbone. I do not recommend getting shot as a way of getting a wake up call to enjoy every moment you have. Those who choose to destroy and not create deserve no more than the meat of their labors. No one escapes the fact that we all get what we sow, more than what we have sown and later than we have sown it.
I have since successfully undergone surgery to rebuild my jawbone. It seems getting teeth will be an investment of my own doing. My hospital stay was over $289,000.00 dollars. The Pennsylvania Crime Commission Department covered the entire bill through the Victims of Violent Crime Fund. I used the part that restore one third of the monetary earnings I would have gotten to pay off my St. Augustine's College Loan (finally) and to get myself declared totally debt-free. My creditors acted like they could care less that I was just out the hospital from almost dying. So I did what I had to do to get them all off of me. It was quite the year and a half fight to get my SSDI, but it finally came through. I was able to pay my back rent and am now paid up. During this whole ordeal, I wasn't able to work. God did not allow one bill to fall into Collections. Right now, all bills are totally covered. Many Christian friends who were no more than dead weight are now off of me. Hallelujah! God continously causes the doctors to marvel at the quick recovery process I undergo at every turn. Jesus has caused me not to be embittered but totally forgiving towards my brother, as I ever pray for the salvation of his soul, whatever way the Lord sees fit. My family is every closer, as brothers are one by one turning their lives over to God. Right now, out of eight, only three still haven't confessed Jesus as the saviour of their souls, so there's still some work to do. Life is great, and the simplest things are turning me into a big waterbag. I cried one time when the cashier asked me, "Paper or Plastic?" Just thinking that I was able to shop again broke me down into tears. I know they thought I was a real loon when before I left the supermarket, I was just laughing at myself, like the biggest joke was secretly told to me!
Summarizing the Update:.....God has blessed by: -returning to me the ability to walk without a cane -allowing me to talk and sing without any limitations -relocating me to Center City's highest rent district as my new residence -allowed me to receive SSDI as well as Medicare benefits -healed me so outwardly, you would never imagined I came back from the dead -giving me a spirit to pray for the salvation of my jailed brother -not allowing bitterness, unforgiveness and hatred to ravage my outlook on life -currently allowing me to live with every bill paid and needs met. As I wait upon Him, He is even giving me my desires and wants (although getting married and raising a family isn't a luxury to afford right now). It pays to live right and submitted unto the Lord!
No matter what,
Jackson Hayes, Jr.
OH, and PS.....my brother is scheduled to get out on parole very soon. All prayers are gratefully appreciated.