Paralyzed Petaluma girl, family give thanks

Jazzlin Mejia can’t help but smile as she talks about eating pumpkin pie with her family at her grandmother’s house this Thanksgiving.

Seated in her wheelchair in the middle of a small east side Petaluma apartment, the 8-year-old recalled Thanksgiving three years ago, when she and her parents shared a meal at Oakland Children’s Hospital. A hospital room served as her makeshift home for the holiday after an October accident that severed her spinal cord, leaving her paralyzed and hospitalized for three months.

The following two years, she said her family ordered Thanksgiving meals, but now they’re reconnecting with a life that was shattered after a driver impaired by drugs and alcohol careened into the car her father was driving on Highway 121 near Sonoma Raceway. This year, Jazzlin, her 2-year-old sister Addie Mejia and her parents, Nanette Andrade and Gustavo Mejia, will gather with family in Sonoma for a homemade dinner, she said.

“We’re finally to that point when we’re ready to get back into the routine of what we do on holidays,” Nanette, 30, said.

It’s been a tough three years since the accident, which also left Nanette’s partner, 29-year-old Gustavo, with leg fractures and a handful of other injuries. A passenger in the other vehicle was killed and its driver, 25-year-old San Francisco resident Damodar Chandradas, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter and 15 other charges.

Despite the challenges, Gustavo said the family has no shortage of things to be thankful for this holiday season - including the continued support from the Petaluma community, which has rallied together to support them financially and emotionally in the years following the 2013 crash.

“I’m 100 percent thankful for everything,” said Gustavo, who works nights as a glazer at a Marin County ceramics company. “There isn’t a moment when I can’t say that I’m thankful. I’m thankful that I’m OK and that Jazzy is sitting here with us.”

Among the various outpourings of community support was a Nov. 20 “Dear Jazzy” benefit with local musicians and speakers at the Mystic Theatre. Organized by Petalumans Chris and Nina Gruener, the benefit drew as many as 250 people and raised as much as $50,000 to help cover the cost of Jazzlin’s therapy and to help the family relocate to a larger home, Chris said.

Jazzlin, her parents and her sister currently share a room in small apartment that’s decorated with Jazzlin’s art, including a drawing of two bright yellow dogs and an abstract multicolored piece displayed prominently in the living room.

Nanette, who works part-time at a Sonoma optometrist’s office, said the family hopes to find an accessible home in Petaluma where Jazzlin can have her own room. They’d like to have a kitchen that’s big enough for Jazzlin to get snacks on her own, and a bathroom large enough to accommodate her wheelchair so she can brush her teeth, she said.

Chris said he was compelled to organize the benefit because the family is forced to foot the entire bill for parts of her therapy and because her parents will receive only about $15,000 from the insurance settlement linked to the crash. He also helped organize an initial fundraiser after the accident, and he has launched a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising $100,000 for continued support.

“We as a community have an opportunity to take care of one of our own because the system has failed them,” said Chris, whose son, Wesley Gruener, was in Jazzlin’s class at Cherry Valley Elementary School when the accident happened.

Gustavo said he was honored to see the community rally around his daughter.

“I was speechless … to see all those people come together and do what they did was amazing. Sometimes we forget there’s a lot of support out there,” Gustavo said.

Both parents said that they’re grateful for Jazzlin, who they described as independent, artistic and spunky. As she grows up, the family is focusing on the future and “moving forward,” Gustavo said.

“Our main focus is always Jazzlin and what we can do to make anything better for her or push her to make herself stronger and just for her to know that there’s always a way to figure something out,” Nanette said. “We really don’t think too much about that person or the accident or anything like that. It’s always just about Jazzlin.”

Jazzlin, who hopes to pursue a career as an artist, said she’s grateful for that encouragement from her parents.

“I’m thankful for my family, the most,” she said. “And friends and food.”

To donate to the campaign, visit www.gofundme.com/jazzlin.

(Contact Hannah Beausang at hannah.beausang@arguscourier.com.)