Fundraiser for Aerebella Beck, and Brody Passey

By Michael Farnworth

For the Journal

POCATELLO— During the month of January two local children were severely injured in two separate accounts of child abuse. Brody Passey, 2, was beaten on January 3, suffering a traumatic brain injury and a broken arm, while Aerabella Beck, 2, a victim of Shaken Baby Syndrome suffered on January 21 had a traumatic brain injury, and broken right shoulder.

Both children were life-flighted to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, and both were at stage 4 on the Glasgow Coma Scale.

"The injuries were so severe," Jennifer Jones (Passey's mother) said, "That doctors in Pocatello were afraid that he (Brody) would not survive the flight to Salt Lake City."

Passey did survive the flight, and was released on February 15, and is doing very well.

Jones took Passey to see the neurosurgeon that performed the surgery for a follow up earlier this week.

"Brody is doing really well now," Jones said, "The neurosurgeon was absolutely amazed at his recovery, and they expect him to make a full recovery."

"When we arrived at Primary Children's" Jones said, "The hospital did the Glasgow Coma test on Brody, and they put him at a 4 which means a severe TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury). He had bleeding in the middle of his brain, and on the right side where the blow to his head was, and he was completely unresponsive."

"Bella was not responding," Emily Thomas (Aerabella's mother) said, "every part of her brain was injured, and she ended up having a seizure that lasted over an hour and a half, and took 6 doses of Ativan to stop."

The Glasgow Coma Test is a neurological test that gages with a scale of 1 through 15. 1 being Brain Dead, and 15 being able to have more in-depth discussions and completely responsive. The children's diagnosis of 4 meant: an unconscious state, with no meaningful response and no voluntary activities.

Beck is doing better, however she is still being fed through a feeding tube as she is unable to hold down food.

"We feed her through her tube every three hours," Thomas said, "we also have to give her all of her medicine through the tube, but her shoulder has healed very well. Even though doctors didn't think it would."

Beck is also suffering from Cortical Blindness due to the Traumatic Brain Injury.

Cortical Blindness is full loss of sight in a normal appearing eye. The blindness is due to damage to the visual area of the brains optical cortex.

"Aerabella started talking again on February 10," Thomas said, "and she started walking on her own on the 9th of March. She still does not use her left arm or hand, it's as if her brain forgot about that part of her body."

Beck has two sisters at home, Angelina, 4, and Sophia, 1. Both are happy to have their sister home after being gone two months.

"Sophia is to young to understand," Thomas said, "but Angelina is handling everything much better than you would expect. She wants to help out with everything, and Aerabelle is so happy to be home playing with her sisters."

April 13 marks the first "Brody's Walk" in Pocatello."Brody's Walk," is an event to raise child abuse awareness in our area.

"We're not sure if we will do a walk, or a 5k, or some other sort of program each year," said Jones, "But with April being Child Abuse Awareness Month, we do hope, and plan to be able to organize some sort of event on a yearly basis."

The walk is being organized by Michelle Jones, (Brody's Grandmother).

"My mom has been the spear head of the walk," said Jennifer Jones, "But we've had several people helping us organize this, and get things ready."

"Brody's Walk" will take place on Wednesday, April 13, and will begin at the old Fred Meyer building located at 950 Yellowstone Ave. in Pocatello. Walkers will gather at 10:30 a.m. and the walk will commence at 11 a.m.

"There are no registration fees" Jennifer Jones said, "It is free for anyone that wants to join us." There are "Brody's walk" t-shirts available for sale by calling Michelle Jones at (208) 317-8509, or by visiting the "Brody Walk" Facebook support page, which as of April 7, had 45 RSVPs'. All proceeds from the t-shirt sales will go to help offset the cost of Passey's treatment.

Passey's stepfather Dennis Timberlake, 24, has been charged with Felony injury to a child, in the beating. Timberlake has plead not guilty to the charges, and is currently out on bond while awaiting the jury trial to begin on May 10. If found guilty, he faces up to 10 years in prison. A no contact order has been issued against Timberlake to ensure that he does not contact Jones.

Donations will be gladly accepted, and anyone that would like to donate can either purchase a t-shirt, or send donations to 5837 E. Grant Rd. Downey, Idaho 83234.

On June 11, a second fundraiser will be held for both Aerabella and Brody.

The second fundraiser will be from 1 to 5 p.m. at the OK Ward Park on the East side pavilion located at 1400 West Quinn Rd.

The fundraiser will include a live auction, hot dogs and soda, live bands, a raffle, and several fun things for children to include a jump house.

Cash donations can be made to an account set up at the Advantage Plus Credit Union under Aerabella's mother's name (Emily Thomas).

Beck also has a Facebook page (Justice for Aerabelle) in which you can also make donations and watch her progress.

Matthew Gonzales, 28, was also charged with felony injury to a child, and was set to be in court on April 5, however Gonzales waived his right to the hearing as he did not contest the charges. "The defense offered to plead guilty in exchange for a 6 month rider at the North Idaho Correctional Institution in Cottonwood, Idaho." Thomas said.

Beck's family has said that they rejected the deal, stating that they would rather take their chances with a trial. The Prosecuting Attorney handling the case was unavailable for comment as of publication time.