Good Samaritans Need Your Help
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August 4th 2012, was for Jacqueline Osborne, the beginning of a mother’s worst nightmare. Her twin sons, age 26, were returning home in the late evening from a night of video gaming with friends, walking through the quiet residential area of St. James, Winnipeg, when a singular moment would change their lives forever.
A young woman is suddenly running towards them, screaming that her boyfriend is going to kill her. As the three of them try to find safety, two men approach them with deadly intent, and one of them is the boyfriend of the terrified woman. A vicious battle ensues, that leaves the twin sons with grievous injuries. Colston suffers the worst of it, with severe head injuries and his ear torn off in the incident. One of the assailants has repeatedly stomped his head on the concrete curb. As attackers flee, Chase is left holding his brother Colston, and screaming for help with no one responding. He administers life-saving CPR and holds onto the threads of his brother’s life.
The story becomes national news. Good Samaritans are brutalized in an attempt to rescue a young woman. A nationwide hunt ensues for the attacker. Both sons in hospital, Colston has to be induced into a coma to protect his life functions. Weeks will pass in intensive care, and further months within temporary facilities.
Jacqueline Osborne is there every step of the way, shattered by the experience. After her son’s discharge from care, she brings him into her home and begins the process of her son’s rehabilitation. Teaching him all over again to talk, walk, read, write and go to the bathroom. She spends all of her financial resources sourcing out neuro specialists and caregivers for Colston, and caring for her son Chase. She does her best but as she and her sons try to pull things together and support each other after such tremendous traumas, they are not equipped to deal with the financial and emotional devastation, and because this was not an insured accident, they no longer have support from anyone including many government providers.
Ultimately, Colston falls through the cracks in the system, lacking true support for the extent of his injuries and now in a permanent life condition with a severe disability.
Over a 6-year period, Colston’s brain injuries lead to a depression and psychosis that leaves him completely dependent on his mother’s care. She also supports her son Chase to the best of her ability, while he struggles with trauma, unemployment and his own damage from the experience.
Today, Colston remains with his mother, but she has exhausted herself emotionally, physically and financially. Her resources are spent and she now struggles with her own physical health issues and consequences of the trauma. She has a heart condition and she cannot manage the overwhelming needs for her son, which include psychiatric care, an ongoing caregiver for daily functioning, and support workers who can help him manage his paranoid delusions of being victimized, over and over again into present day.
Most importantly, there is no government support and no chance of supported independent housing. The two facilities on Vancouver Island have limited space and there is no hope of accommodations for years to come. In fact, some of the representatives advised Jacqueline to abandon her son to the streets.
Jacqueline is at a crisis point where she can barely manage life for herself, and cannot provide the resources required for her sons’ present and future.
As a society, we have to question what happens to the victims of violence, and the true, lifelong cost of these experiences. Immediate hospital care and transition is only the beginning. It is now known that brain injury victims are at high risk for multiple mental health conditions. The life-long effects of these traumas are not being taken into account for these types of victims and our governments and social systems are not sufficient to address these needs.
These are the forgotten victims, and in the case of Colston and Chase, these are the forgotten heroes. Jacqueline says, “If we’d had sustained, ongoing care and support for all of us, I know things would have been different. I know Colston would not have had the psychotic breakdown. Chase would have gotten the help he needed, and so would I. We would all have quality of life. I’m not a doctor or psychiatric nurse or therapist or any of these things and yet I have had to be, on top of my own issues. I’m not angry, I’m past angry....I'm very disappointed and disillusioned in my government and in the system. It’s not like my boys intentionally did anything wrong. They were helping somebody. I taught them to do that. I feel tremendous guilt from that.”
It is truly a moral question for each of us. Will we help our neighbor in this unpredictable world we live in? And what happens to those of us who suffer for being a good neighbor? What will our society do to help victims and to bring the true justice needed for them? When will we recognize the life-long effects of these kinds of tragedies?
Jacqueline is reaching out to each of us who has loved and taught their children compassion and courage to do the right thing. Her sons are casualties of this basic human principle. Our society has abandoned them. We are seeking the attention of all who will listen and donate to a simple cause. To make things right for Colston, his mother Jacqueline, and his brother Chase.
Their story remains unfinished, and perhaps we as a society can help bring justice to this family. Colston needs lifelong housing and support to simply survive. Chase also needs support, as does his mother, the courageous mother who has borne this struggle for so long, on her own.
Please donate to our cause, and spread the message of hope for our society’s lost victims and heroes. Thank you.
Organizer
Jacqueline Osborne
Organizer
