Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 25, 1994 TAG: 9412270112
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B6 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: JIM STRATTON AND KIRSTEN WILLIAMS NEWPORT NEWS DAILY PRESS
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Long
The manger scene, a homemade wooden one, sits on top of the television set that dominates Bob and Peggy Jackson's small living room. Under its roof are the usual cast of characters: Baby Jesus, his mother, three ceramic wise men and a handful of manger animals. But up in the corner, nestled in some cotton clouds, is a picture of the Jacksons' daughter, Charlene Medeiros.
The Jacksons put the photo there when their 28-year-old daughter died from complications of AIDS. Now, a little more than 16 months after Charlene's death, they know that by next Christmas another picture will probably have to be placed in the fluffy white cotton. Jennifer, Charlene's youngest daughter and the couple's 3-year-old grandchild, has AIDS, too. She's not expected to live through 1995. It's a thought that Peggy Jackson can't bear.
``It really hit us this Christmas,'' she said, watching Jennifer roll on the floor near her 5-year-old sister, Heather. ``We're sort of over the initial shock of Charlene being gone, and now we know we're going to lose Jennifer.''
``It's really too much sometimes,'' agreed her husband, Bob, a longtime bailiff in Hampton's Juvenile and Domestic Court. ``Sometimes, I just lose it.''
The Jacksons took in Jennifer and her two siblings after their daughter died. They say she contracted the disease from her husband, Paul Medeiros. He died of AIDS in 1991, several years after receiving AIDS-tainted blood during an emergency transfusion.
Neither Paul nor Charlene, however, tested positive for the disease until soon before their deaths. As a result, they didn't know they risked passing the illness on to their children.
Heather and 10-year-old David continue to test negative. Jennifer, however, has tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Her condition seems to be deteriorating, her grandmother said.
Friday afternoon, she zipped around the house like a little blonde waterbug, pestering her brother, dishing out hugs to her 58-year-old grandmother and playing with the dog. But earlier in the day, said Peggy Jackson, Jennifer was weak. Twice in the past 19 months, she's been in the hospital for extended stays, and doctors say her infection-fighting ability is slipping.
The Jacksons, knowing how quickly AIDS took their daughter, are preparing for the worst. Jennifer's burial arrangements have already been made.
``She has her good days, and she has her bad days,'' said 57-year-old Bob Jackson. ``Right now, we're trying to give her as many good times as possible.''
One of those good times was Friday night.
After hearing of Charlene's death and of Jennifer's illness, some friends of the Jacksons' decided they would try to make this Christmas special. Cricket Davie, one of Charlene's childhood friends, got her fellow employees at Old Point National Bank to ``adopt'' the family, and her fiance tapped co-workers at M.K. Taylor Jr. Contracting in Hampton. Friends from a local dart team and students from Kecoughtan High School also chipped in.
In a few weeks, they had collected more than $600 to buy gifts, throw a Christmas party and cook a holiday feast. Friday, they unleashed all that goodwill on the Jackson household.
Jennifer, David and Heather pressed their noses against the glass front door and watched the caravan of well-wishers arrive.
``That's them,'' Heather screamed.
``That's Santa over there. I see him,'' Jennifer agreed.
Donning their coats, the two girls, followed by David, ran out of the house to greet Santa, Rudolph and several elves singing carols.
After renditions of ``Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' and ``We Wish You A Merry Christmas,'' the entire crew helped haul a houseful of gifts into the Jackson living room.
Rudolph helped Santa distribute presents to the three children, Bob and Peggy.
Jennifer at first showed some trepidation, hiding from Santa in the kitchen, but she soon traded in her shyness for a pile of presents. The unwrapping of each gift was followed by screams of ``Grammy, Grampy, look what I got!''
``Gosh'' was all Bob could manage, wiping the tears from his eyes.
``I don't know where I'm going to stick all this stuff,'' 10-year-old David said, unaware of the sadness mingled with the joy in the room.
After all the presents were unwrapped and the wrapping paper cleaned up, Davie led the children and all the well-wishers outside.
``We're going to send a Christmas card to Mommy in heaven,'' she said.
Each child kissed a signed Christmas card tied to a balloon and shouted ``Merry Christmas, Mom,'' as they let it rise toward the sky.
``It's all yours. Have fun. Go play,'' Davie said, urging the children back inside. Davie and her friends also planned to give the Jacksons any money left over from the gift-buying spree - a little more than $100. With about $2,000 still to pay on Charlene and Jennifer's burial expenses, Bob Jackson knows where he'll put that money. ``We'll pay that down a little,'' he said. ``Eventually it'll be paid off.''
Davie said the party and the gifts were just a way to show ``that there's help out there. That people really do care.''
``I look at Jennifer and think her life is full of doctor visits and medications,'' she said. ``I know I can't give her a normal childhood - I'd do anything to do that - but I can help give her a nice Christmas.''
by CNB