I received this email yesterday:
From: Erin Beckett (Markes)
Subject: Jaden Markes
It is coming up on the third year that I lost my precious angel and I’m just now able to go back and look at the blogs and postings, which led me to you. I don’t know that I have ever thanked you for your support and belief you had in me and it’s extremely important to me that you know my gratitude! I have learned to forgive the ones who trashed me and made me out to be a monster but I’ve never gotten around to thanking the few like you that stood beside me!
A Sincere Thanks,
Jaden’s Mommy
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In April 2008, the news story had all the elements of the perfect attention-getting headline or news sound bite. A 4-year-old boy, Jaden Markes, hospitalized weighing 10 pounds. The mother, 19, arrested for child neglect with great bodily harm — a felony.
The News Journal reported a veteran pediatrician calling the case one of the worst cases of child neglect he had ever seen, which set off a feeding frenzy on pnj.com. The teenage mother, Erin Markes, was called “despicable” and “unfit.” One commentator declared she should be beheaded.
CNN host Nancy Grace mocked Markes on-air with “Don’t worry, mommy never missed a meal. And I’m sure she is having a lovely dinner tonight behind bars.”
They were all wrong.
Jaden Markes, the 4-year-old boy, suffered from Miller-Dieker syndrome, a form of lissencephaly, which is a rare brain disorder characterized by a smoothing of the brain. Its symptoms include seizures and an inability to absorb nutrients and medications. It was a miracle that he had lived as long as he did.
I championed Erin Markes, using this blog, the IN and my old radio show, “IN Your Head Radio,” to get the facts out and counter the vicious attacks thrown at this young mother (Read “Beyond The Media Frenzy“). We actually interviewed her on the radio show (listen).
Erin grew up in south Santa Rosa County. She went to Oriole Beach Elementary School and then Gulf Breeze Middle School. She was a cheerleader. She even modeled.
When I met Erin, she was 19 years old. She had been a mother since she was 15. She was in the process of a divorce from her husband, 23-year-old Adam Markes. Her own biological father was long absent, her mother was dead and doctors said that soon — no matter what anyone did for him — Jaden was going to die, too.
Eventually, the State Attorney’s Office announced that it would not prosecute Markes. Erin was allowed to be with her son as he spent in his last few days in hospice care.
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After nearly 12 years of publishing the IN, I wake up some mornings wondering if we’ve had any real impact. Then I get an email like this one. Journalism is more than simply writing about a council meeting or some bonehead move by a politician. It’s about making a difference in people’s lives.
This time—with Erin Markes—we got it right.
