“She’s very scared and I think she’s holding on for her father.”
Those are the words of the mother of Jayci Yaeger. Jayci is ten years old, and she is dying with cancer.
“I want my dad to hold me,” Jayci says.
But no, it won’t happen, for her father, Jason, is in prison, serving time for a federal drug conviction. Appeals for a 30 day release have been denied.
A video of Jayci is here.
Peoples of the world–mothers, fathers, young people–please hear me today. Your drugs are killing you, they’re destroying us, our society is imploding. For you see, there is an ugly, dirty reality on the backside of your euphoria, a nasty, heart-wrenching place.
Ask Jayci.
EDIT: Thursday March 27 Jayci’s dad has been allowed to see her. Read it here.
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My devotional blog is here.
Shirley Buxton 
16 replies on “The Backside of Euphoria”
This is a Total Catch 22, and i hate it,
I Want Jayci to be able to see her daddy, BUT, if you let Jason Jaeger out of prison early, what’s stopping other inmates from wanting to get out early aswell?
As for Me, No matter how wrong it seems, I’m all For Jayci getting to see her Daddy
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Bowels of compassion… how we must be careful.
This is an extreme and very sad situation with a cold warden who could have handled it differently. God have mercy, he too is someone’s loved one and vice versa.
I guess it goes back a long way for me, I posted last year “The scarf” – story of an old man I met.
Nowadays I weep for the children. But I understand darkness has engulfed the world and what would we be without Jesus?
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How can such an in humane person do this to this little girl and her family. What if it was your daughter warden?????? I hope he is allowed to be with the family and her as she is laid to rest. Who ever this warden is you have no compassion at all. This is such a heartbreaking story this father and little girl just wanted a chance to be together at the end. You denied them that right how selfish and cruel. This man was not a murderer but look at all the ones they let out and walk the street what is wrong with our system!!!! My thoughts and prayers go out to you
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[…] 28, 2008 · 1 Comment Jayci died a short time ago, mere hours after her father’s […]
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[…] 27, 2008 · No Comments With great compassion, several of you commented on Jayci’s story I wrote about a few days ago. She is the little girl, dying with cancer, who desperately wanted to […]
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The O’ Reilly Factor did a peice on this story yesterday enlightening me to some of the facts on this story. Not only is the father just months away from release, as I understand it he is in a half way house of sorts. In addition he has been granted supervised furlows on other occassions.
At this point I would say, at least for me, the facts are in and withholding a visitation at this point seems an aggregious misstep by the judge in this case who refuses to allow the furlow.
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I think absent fathers (for any reason) are a blight on all our families. I blog about it in a post called ‘When did you last see your father?’. As a child therapist, I see so much harm done when a child doesn’t have contact with the biological father, even if there is a loving step-father presence in the house. Yes, I agree we do need to be proactive in trying to find solutions – not to stop fathers paying for their crimes but to protect their children from carrying the results of intergenerational pain forward in their lives.
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I think most people do not realize the affect their actions has on other people. Almost everything we do affects someone.
Most people think “Well I am just hurting myself” but that is far from true.
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Hello, everybody–
I appreciate all your comments, and your taking the time to be here.
While I believe this father is responsible for his own actions, and certainly should pay, if I were on the committee, because of this tiny girl’s desire, I would release the father to be with his daughter. His sentence will be up in a few months, so it is likely he is of no danger to anyone. His sentence should not be shortened. He could serve the rest of the time later. I just can hardly bear the thought of Jayci crying for her daddy.
The older I grow, the more intense hatred do I have for sin and its horrendous consequences. Only today have we dealt with a young person in the throes of physical and mental problems because of alcohol.
I hate the devil!
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We all have choices in life, some of them have small and painless consequences, some of them are life changing. The choices Jayci’s father has made has been one of life change. How sad is it that sin drives a wedge between a innocent little girl and the one and only thing she wants, her daddy
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What a terrible situation. I am definately torn. While I want justice, I also want mercy for this young one.
If I were the judge, or on a committee with the responsibility of making this decision the only factor that I would be able to take into account is the risk this prisoner bares on the public. Would he use his daughter in an attempt to escape? Is he a danger to those around him? Does he have a history of evading arrest?
I would like to see him out for his daughters sake, but with out the answers to those questions, I would have to leave the decision to those who have seen the answers first hand.
If we did let him out and he turned violent, there would be throngs of people second guessing the decision. Another example of our sin hurting those around us. Tracie, I too need to do more.
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As a doctor I ask >Why make a second crime by keeping the father from seeing the dying daughter. In this case it is the innocent child that is suffering from a painful end because she is deprived of her true and pure love (that we have lost in this society) for her dad. How sick and egoist society have we become? Think and dig deep into your heart and ask yourself about your reaction to the greatest commandment we have “love your neighbor as yourself”,,, do we really have our ego so distorted so as to coldly overlook the Childs simple heart filled with pure love for her dad (she has NO concept of his crimes). If you only really knew the pains and lonelyness that cancer brings to a child, this is HER ONLY desire and intention, to hold, hug and kiss her DADDY… Can yo go to sleep in this childs conditons and have this pain??? Can you Can you, Put yourself in her heart and feel the pain not of the cancer but of the love for her dad,,, I have sat at the bed side of my patients dying with cancer and in must cases it is NOT the cancer Pain but the lonelyness because their family members are not there, NO one that they love ,or that loves them are there to hold their hands or just whisper simple words in their ears… or to gently carress their face.. Please do not let this little girl die without seeing and holding her daddy’s hand.
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Has anyone started a petition yet to get Jayci’s father out of jail? Maybe there is something that the we all can do so they can understand how important it is for her…
Please let us know…
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Heart wrenching. I spend time every week with children of addicts. Some want to be delivered others are so selfish and live for the moment. Unfortunately this father has served the crime now must serve the time. My soft side says let him out for the sake of this baby. However, my honest sides realizes that probably when he was “out” he wasn’t there for the baby. I could share some hair raising situations. We must reach our world. I MUST DO MORE!
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Absolutely heartbreaking.
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Beyond sad.
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