Rebecca and her son Javoni. Photo provided by the family.

by Health Impact News/MedicalKidnap.com Staff

In December 2013, in the State of Florida, Ms. Rebecca Wood gave birth to Javoni, a seven-pound baby boy with mild infant jaundice. Doctors assured her that jaundice was relatively common in newborns and told her that he would recover from the condition in a few days.

Although his health initially improved, his health deteriorated significantly within hours of receiving a series of routine vaccinations just eight weeks later. Rebecca explained:

Immediately after his two-month routine vaccinations, my son became very ill. He had constant diarrhea. Diarrhea after vaccinations is not uncommon; however, his diarrhea continued for days.

We took him to the emergency room, concerned since his diarrhea had not stopped. They transferred him to the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital due to elevated temperature and ultimately he was admitted. They did various blood tests and gave him antibiotics. The diarrhea continued.

He was released from the hospital after three nights with antibiotics. We followed up with his pediatrician’s office because we were still concerned that the diarrhea had not stopped. He also was not gaining any weight. The doctors did not appear to be very concerned.

One evening, Javoni was coughing non-stop. I called the after-hours nurse and they advised that he sleep in his bouncer. He started spitting up more than normal. Once again, [we took] a trip to the pediatrician and their solution was to provide him with Zantac for possible acid reflux.

The vaccinations that Javoni received were the following:

• DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis)
• IPV (inactivated polio)
• HIB (haemophilus influenzae type B)
• PVC 13 (pneumococcal conjugate vaccine)
• Rota (rotavirus)
• Hep B (hepatitis B)

Despite his mother following all of the pediatrician’s advice, instead of improving as one would expect, Javoni’s health continued to deteriorate. A few days later, Rebecca was devastated to discover that her son’s arm appeared to be hanging limp.

Child Diagnosed with Metabolic Bone Disease; Family Accused of Harming Him

Javoni. Photo provided by the family.

Due to the urgency of the situation and the fact that her doctor could not fit her son into his schedule for an immediate appointment, Rebecca rushed Javoni to the nearest E.R., where doctors diagnosed him with various medical conditions, including metabolic bone disease.

However, instead of providing this devastated young mother with as much information and advice as possible on her son’s conditions, the doctors simply Ace-bandaged his broken arm to his fragile little body and sent the family on their way.

Rebecca told Health Impact News that at no time did the hospital offer them any appropriate information about their son’s disease or fragile infant handling, but instead gave them a follow-up appointment for the next day.

Rebecca explained to us the events that followed:

The only advice we received was to double his vitamin D from 400 IU/daily (regular dosage given to a newborn) to 800 IU/daily. No further diagnosis or home-care instructions were given.

At this time, we were NOT informed of any other breaks other than his arm. We only found out about the other broken bones much later when we asked for the x-rays taken.

NO instructions concerning fragile bones as a result of MBD were given to us. We were investigated by DCF (Department of Children’s Families); but due to and confirmation of the medical MBD/ brittle bone diagnosis, the case was closed.

According to Rebecca, this was only the beginning of their problems. She explained that:

Just days later, I was on my way to school when I received a call from Javoni’s father saying that his leg was limp. I immediately called 911 and requested an ambulance be sent to our home. I explained to the 911 dispatcher that my son was diagnosed with a metabolic bone disease.

They transferred him via ambulance to the emergency room. In the emergency room, they put an IV in his other (left) arm. Immediately after they placed the needle in his arm, that arm stopped functioning. They gave him morphine (which is hardly ever used for a child of this young age).

They then took x-rays and found that both arms and his leg were fractured. His pediatrician came into the emergency room and I sadly asked him what was going on with my son.

His pediatrician said, “Rickets, didn’t the endocrinologist tell you?”

I said, “No, he never explained it to us; he never provided us with patient education or home care instructions. He only requested that we double the dosage of vitamin D.”

They kept him overnight at the hospital and did additional testing including blood tests, x-rays, etc.

Doctor More Concerned about His Job than His Patient?

However, far from showing concern about his fragile patient’s sudden deterioration in health, as one would expect, the doctor in charge appeared to be more worried about the effect that his [Javoni’s] condition would have on his career.

According to Rebecca, after he transferred her son to a Shands teaching hospital in Gainesville for a suspected liver disease, he was apparently overheard saying that he “could lose his job over this.”

She explained:

When we arrived at the second hospital, we were informed that my son also had rib fractures.

I said to the nurse, ‘That cannot be correct, as we were never informed of these fractures.’ She said it came in the paperwork from the previous hospital. They never gathered the complete set of paperwork from the first hospital.

The following day, a doctor came into the hospital room and informed us that they found a skull fracture. In his earlier records, there is a mention of wormian bones in his skull. These appear to be fractures but are not.

They re-opened the case again and investigators interviewed us. They also made us take a drug test and go to a separate interview with social services. Later that night they made us parents leave the hospital.

Rebecca continued:

My mom flew down to Gainsville to stay with Javoni but was requested by DCF to leave the following night and informed that Javoni would be given to a foster family, who “understands” the medical care.

That foster mom works for the same hospital in Tallahassee, which did not provide us with proper care instructions and caused Javoni to break his left arm, when placing the IV (x-ray shows this) – nor did they treat him appropriately.

During the hearing, I was told that the parents always get the children back and that I would have daily visitation for one hour including weekends. We had to find a criminal attorney.

Child Adopted; Parental Rights Terminated

It appears that they lied because a few years later little Javoni was put up for adoption by Child Protective Services to be adopted by strangers. According to Rebecca, Child Protective Services totally ignored the family’s requests to have Javoni adopted by a family member, even though three members of her own family had been fully approved to adopt her son.

If this was not heartbreaking enough for Rebecca and her family, subsequent testing has since proven that not only did their son suffer from metabolic bone disease, but in fact, there was a family history of metabolic bone disease, rickets, scoliosis, kyphosis, and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Disgusted by events, Rebecca’s father stated in an interview that:

When I was quite young, I was diagnosed with rickets and I wore full leg braces on both legs until my bones were straightened out.

I didn’t think much of it at the time but I have come to realize in the past year that this is also part of being vitamin D deficient and I have come to realize this is part of our family’s medical history.

This information was further supported in a report written by Michael F. Holick, Ph.D., M.D., from the Boston University of Medicine, after reading a complete family history, he wrote:

The grandfather has a history of bowed legs, rickets and Scheumann’s Kyphosis.

Javoni, being held by his grandfather, during happier times. Photo provided by the family.

After giving Rebecca a full medical examination, he wrote:

I explained to Rebecca that she likely has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type 3 and possibly also marfanoid features.

I have recommended that she be cautious about clicking her joints and to maintain her joints, especially so she does not develop osteoarthritis later in life.

Many of her GERD symptoms may be due to gastroparesis, and feeling lightheaded when she stands up is due to orthostatic hypotension. She notes she does bruise easily. Again, this is consistent with EDS.

Throughout his report he made it perfectly clear that there was a family history of serious medical conditions that were likely to affect the joints and muscles and he reiterated that it was in his medical opinion that Javoni’s broken bones could just as easily have been caused through an inherited condition as neglect or abuse. He wrote:

Regarding her son Javoni, it sounds based on the family medical history that mom and grandparents give that he also has the same genetic disorder. This is an autosomaldominant disorder.

In addition, there is no question that he had infantile rickets during his first 3 months of life, as documented by his vitamin-D-deficient 25-hydroxyvitamin D level, markedly elevated alkaline phosphatase, and elevated serum PTH.

The combination of EDS, severe vitamin D deficiency, and infantile rickets markedly increases risk of fracture, and it is likely that the fractures that were observed could have been caused by one or both of these metabolic bone disorders.

Dr. Holick was not alone in his opinion.

In a report written by world renowned radiologist and expert on the subject of infantile rickets, Dr. David Ayoub wrote:

Javoni presented to TMH ED on 3/3/14 with a non-traumatic right arm injury. Initial evaluation indicated rickets. He was discharged home but returned to TMH ED on 3/3/14 with a non-traumatic right arm injury.

Initial evaluation indicated rickets. He was discharged home but returned on 3/6/14 with an acute, symptomatic right femur fracture. The skeletal survey showed an unexpected fracture through the left humerus as well. These fractures had transverse orientation and not spiral.

Further workup continued to detail laboratory and radiographic changes of rickets. A family history of rickets was also noted. His growth charts showed dramatic delay in length and consistent with failure to thrive, a known feature of rickets.

He continued:

Javoni’s labs were classical and unequivocally indicative of a diagnosis of severe metabolic bone disease. His illness was precipitated by post vaccination diarrhea.

His elevated alkaline phosphatase predated the presence of acute fractures and thus cannot be dismissed as a coincidental finding to fractures. Liver disease and metabolic acidosis could further contribute to bone disease including rickets. Diarrhea can result in other deficiencies that weaken bone.

Interestingly, Dr. David Ayoub mentioned that Javoni received his vaccinations shortly before his problems began and indicated that these vaccinations may have played a part in him developing bone disease.

This is of particular interest because Dr. Ayoub is well-known in his belief that it is not only a poor diet and the lack of sunshine that is responsible for the growing number of children suffering from rickets, but also the growing number of vaccinations containing the adjuvant aluminium.

See: Is Shaken Baby Syndrome Often Misdiagnosed and Caused by Vaccine-Induced Rickets?

He could be correct, because during Javoni’s first eight weeks of life, this fragile infant received a total of nine doses of vaccinations. These vaccines included two doses of Hep B, DTaP, Hib and PCV, which according to Dr. Suzanne Humphries, can contain the equivalent of 1,500 mcg of aluminum.

Sadly, aside from the vaccinations, Javoni also received the antacid medication Zantac, also known to contain aluminum, together with a large cocktail of other drugs which included the antibiotics Amoxicillin and Rocephin and/or Ceftriaxone, which although were written up separately in his reports, appear to be the same drug, as well as morphine, vitamin D, calcium and Acyclovir, a drug used to treat herpes.

Could this lethal cocktail have contributed to Javoni’s condition?

Expert Reports Banned from Court – Parents Face Jail

There has been clear evidence throughout this case to support Javoni’s parents. His parents have obtained written reports from at least four separate experts, stating that Javoni not only suffered from rickets but also from a metabolic bone disease and had a family history of these conditions.

Despite this evidence, it appears that Child Protective Services have chosen to ignore the evidence and are adopting out this young baby to strangers.

‘There has been clear evidence throughout this case to support Javoni’s parents. His parents have obtained written reports from at least four separate experts, stating that Javoni not only suffered from rickets but also from a metabolic bone disease and had a family history of these conditions. Despite this evidence, it appears that Child Protective Services have once again chosen to ignore the evidence and have chosen to adopt out this young baby to strangers.” Photo provided by the family.

If this is not bad enough, his parents have since been charged with neglect and abuse and are now facing the very real possibility of going to jail as a result.

In an email to Health Impact News, Rebecca stated:

My old lawyer did not want to “go the medical route” and wanted me to blame my son’s father. She also said that whether or not I present my evidence, I would lose – which meant losing all rights to my child.

I was forced to give up my rights. I had no choice. The judge terminates so many parental rights because she had bad press in the past.

The prosecutor is using witnesses that are not even experts in the field of what my son’s disease(s) is/are. One specializes in Anglemann’s syndrome. He was untruthful about his results when doing my EDS test which he also did incorrectly compared to the other experts (4) who have tested me for EDS and confirmed me having it.

In other words, this mother was allegedly coerced into giving up her parental rights under false pretenses to enable Child Protective Services to legally kidnap her child. To make matters worse, this family has been denied the right to present their own medical evidence, as to-date it has allegedly been ignored by Child Protective Services, lawyers, and judges.

There appears to be countless errors throughout this case and by having their evidence ignored, this family is unlikely to receive a fair trial and as a result could face going to jail for a crime they did not commit.

How You Can Help

The Governor of Florida is Rick Scott. Write to Governor Rick Scott and ask him to remove all charges of child abuse against these parents and to open an inquiry to discover how they were accused of abuse in the first place.

Office of Governor Rick Scott
State of Florida
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

(850) 717-9337