A holiday lesson: One young N.J. athlete's devotion to his sick mother

Over the past few months, with little feeling from the waist down and barely able to move, she developed potentially fatal bedsores. The wound on her sacral bone — the "butt bone" — is diagnosed as stage four, the most severe. She has more sores on her legs and hips.

Vitale, her doctor, says Vaida’s greatest danger is developing an infection. That means Quai’s most important job as her primary caregiver — cleaning and bandaging the wounds twice a day — is most crucial to Vaida’s survival.

"You can’t underestimate what taking care of those ulcers is doing for her," Vitale says. "Some people pass out by the smell. They pay nurses big money to do stuff like that."

Mother and son have an unbreakable connection: "God gave me a wonderful angel," Vaida Jefferson says. "œShe'™s truly my heart, my rock, my stone," Quai says. "Like, that'™s all I have."John Munson/The Star-Ledger 

The sores look like craters in her flesh, Quai says, with exposed bone, muscle and tissue. Wearing gloves and holding his breath, he removes the old dressings, gently cleans the wounds, applies prescription ointment and bandages them.

"You wouldn’t wish that upon your worst enemy," Quai says. "To see a loved one have to go through that is just dreadful."

Read the full article here:

http://www.nj.com/hssports/blog/football/index.ssf/2013/11/a_holiday_lesson_one_nj_young_athletes_devotion_to_his_sick_mother.html

A fundraising effort has begun on FundRazr.com to help Vaida Jefferson purchase a Clinitron bed, which can help reduce bedsores. You can get more information here.