Miracles really do happen
News
The parents of a young boy who was the victim of a hammer-throwing accident have spoken publicly for the first time of their anguish as they watched him fight for his life, and their gratitude for the groundswell of prayers they firmly believe helped save him.
When Christian Brothers College Year 7 student Javale Morato was rushed to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital on September 5 with a traumatic brain injury, doctors told the family to expect the worst.
A few hours earlier, his mum Teresa and four-year-old sister Jeorgianna had arrived at St Albans Reserve, Clearview, to pick him up from athletics training and take him to his martial arts class. From the car, Teresa watched Javale have a drink of water and then throw the javelin before she turned to the back seat to unbuckle her daughter’s seatbelt.
By the time she turned back, there was a group of students and teachers gathered around a child lying on the ground. Teresa scanned the field for her son.
“I couldn’t find him anywhere so my heart begins to race, and I have to go and see,” she said as she relived the harrowing moment.
“That’s when I received a call on my phone and it was from the school, so I knew. I said ‘I saw, I’m here’.”
She ran onto the field and was told Javale had been hit by a ball.
“Some firemen came and put a tarpaulin around him,” Teresa said, unable to stop the tears.
“In my mind, if they put the tent up it would mean the worst, so I kept telling them to move away from my son.”
A woman came and tried to calm her down, saying ‘he’s fine’. But she knew he wasn’t fine. Her fears were confirmed when the paramedics turned him over and she saw that his face was “all black” from a lack of oxygen.
She shouted to Javale, “don’t go, you come back, you come back” as the paramedics performed CPR and put a needle in him, then transferred him to the ambulance.
The medical team wouldn’t let Teresa travel in the ambulance and a friend who had been in the vicinity was about to drive her to the hospital when Javale was brought back out and a doctor intubated him on the field. This gave the distraught Teresa a tiny glimmer of hope.
“Javale loves The Good Doctor (TV show) and from that I had this idea if a person is very critical, they need to intervene quickly, so I thought thank God they’re not going to wait until he gets to hospital,” she said.
Meanwhile, her husband Jason, a ‘fly in/fly out’ worker, had just knocked off when he received a phone call from a friend which he thought was a bit unusual. His initial dread was that something had happened to Teresa or Jeorgianna, not his active, sports-loving son.
“I started to panic, from then on I was trying to fly back but because I was in a remote area I couldn’t fly,” he said.
Jason’s supervisor and even the hospital social worker tried unsuccessfully to arrange a flight and he was forced to spend an agonising night in his room. Two close colleagues came to his room and “prayed and wept” with him.
Finally reaching Adelaide the next afternoon, he went straight to the hospital.
Javale in a cool mat after his brain surgery.
“When I saw my son I couldn’t believe what had happened to him,” Jason said.
“Every morning we would exchange messages, I’d tell him to take care, be safe, especially because he’s taking the bus to school now…and he’d say ‘okay, I love you’.
“It’s really unexplainable, what it was like to see him. I thought this couldn’t happen to my son because he is really active; this kind of freak accident, you never dream of this happening to your son.”
Teresa cried as she repeated the doctor’s words – “severe traumatic brain injury” – and remembered being asked to sign a waiver for the high-risk operation on his brain. She was told Javale had stopped breathing for five to 10 minutes.
“A lot of questions were running through my mind but hearing the words that he might not make it…I said ‘please save my baby’.
“After the neurosurgeon left the room my friend and I started praying the Rosary. We called our friends, they also started praying together. I called all the people – our priest, friends, family, everyone who could help us in that time.”
Migrating to Australia in 2015 after working as architects in Singapore, the Moratos are members of the Filipino Catholic community and parishioners at Hectorville.
Jason called his father back home and he quickly went from being happy to hear from his son to tears and promises of prayers.
After the operation Javale was put in an induced coma for three days while the brain swelling subsided.
“It was the critical point. They put him into a cool mat because his temperature was getting high,” Teresa said.
“It was the longest, slowest time,” Jason added.
“After 72 hours they started to lower the medication to slowly wake him up…everything was running well at that time until he had a lung infection.”
Teresa said it was explained to them that VAP (Ventilator Associated Pneumonia) was common for patients with tracheal intubation.
Javale slept most of the time for the next two weeks, with his parents and sister by his side. The first sign of progress came after the doctors performed a tracheotomy to help air and oxygen reach his lungs. But it was impossible for Javale to speak until a smaller trachea with a speaker valve was inserted four weeks after the accident.
When Javale had his first MRI two days after the accident, the doctors pointed out the abnormalities in the scans.
Two or three weeks later, he had another MRI.
“Would you believe it…the doctors told us there is no difference from before,” Teresa said.
And yet Javale was making good progress including recognising his family and friends and regaining some movement on his right side, which was impacted the most by the injury to the left side of the brain.
“The doctors couldn’t explain his behaviour, and after that they said ‘we are not referring to the MRI results, we are clinically assessing him’.”
Overcome with emotion, Teresa demonstrated how Javale could now lift his right hand and between sobs she whispered, “we didn’t need to be told why, we knew”, referring to their belief in the power of prayer.
“Actually, since day one it’s already a miracle, like escaping this kind of injury, like from the surgery to the present,” Jason said.
“You know miracles are happening every day, through prayer.”
He and Teresa have been overwhelmed by the response from people. Javale’s teachers and classmates from St Pius X School have visited and prayed for him. The school chat group name was changed to Pray for Javale and two days after the accident Dernancourt parish priest Fr John Sebastian OMI held a healing Mass at St Pius X Church for staff, students, Javale’s friends and their families.
CBC prepared a video with messages from his friends and held a student liturgy and special Mass while the college principal and deputy principal visited him.
The family has received holy water from Lourdes, Portugal, Ireland and the Philippines. A friend’s parents who were on a pilgrimage in Europe asked everyone to stop and pray for Javale when they heard about the accident.
Family friend Jo Anne Dumalaon-Canaria approached hospital chaplain Fr Peter Rozitis and told him about Javale. He offered to say Mass every Friday at St Mary’s Church, North Adelaide. Hectorville parish priest Fr Javeen Gabriel SMM asked parishioners to include Javale in their prayers and Fr Anthony Beltrame regularly joined the family in prayer. Fr Matthew Newman from the Cathedral parish anointed the young boy a few days after the surgery.
At 8pm every day, people from different parts of the country come together via Zoom to pray the Rosary, led by a member of Couples for Christ.
“We are so blessed to see how many people are joining us in prayer,” Teresa said.
“We were born and raised Catholics, and we do believe in miracles because that’s what’s happening to our son right now.
“There’s one time when we realised we can’t do anything, the doctors and nurses are doing their best to save our son, what we can do is to pray for all of them, and of course for Javale to fight for his life.”
And a fighter he undoubtedly is.
Javale with his intercol MVP medal.
“Oh yes, he’s a very active boy, very competitive, a very good son and friend, so friendly, intelligent, smart…even his old teachers love him and have come to visit,” Teresa added.
His favourite sport is basketball – he won an intercol MVP award two weeks before the accident – and his talents extend to playing the piano and singing (he performed solo at the recent Catholic Schools Music Festiva).
But most importantly, Teresa said he has a “kind heart”.
“He wants everyone to be included and he only sees the goodness of the person – that’s why he has so many friends.
“I am very proud of my boy and really praying hard that he will get through this point
of his life. God’s will, he can do all those things again like before.”
On October 12, Javale turned 13 and one of his friend’s mother came up with the idea of having a party at the hospital. There were T-shirts with Javale’s name and words of inspiration, balloons, presents and a cake.
Nurses were visibly moved as they presented him with a gift.
Jason and Teresa said all the staff at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital had been “so wonderful”.
“I keep telling them I know this is your job but it’s not just about your job, it’s about the concern you show to your patients, not just Javale, we really thank you for that,” Jason said.
Teresa said if she had learnt anything it was that “God sends us good people to help us”.
Footnote: At the time of publication, Javale was recovering from surgery on October 17 to replace the damaged part of his skull with a titanium plate. He was expected to resume intensive rehabilitation after regaining his strength. His parents have been told it could be months before Javale can go home.
CBC Fundraiser
Christian Brothers College Parents and Friends Association is organising a silent auction event to provide financial assistance to Javale and his family.
Principal David Johnston said the fundraising initiative sought to alleviate some of the financial burden associated with his ongoing medical needs and to support the family during this challenging time.
“The silent auction will showcase an array of desirable items available for bidding,” Mr Johnston said.
“For those who wish to offer their support through a direct monetary contribution, a donation facility will also be available.
“All funds raised through this endeavour will be deposited into a dedicated account expressly designated for Javale’s continued recovery and to provide assistance to his family.”
For more information about the auction, visit discover.cbc.sa.edu.au/auction
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