Update on James.

Dear parishioners of St Mary’s Church Clapham and all who have prayed for James ,I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued prayers and support and to also share and update on my Nephew James, a year has passed since James was stabbed .

James has been in rehabilitation since August last year , he has been making great progress, thank you once again for your continued prayers, they truly do work and prayers are indeed powerful.

On the evening of the incident, James unfortunately suffered a cardiac arrest due to the injuries he sustained, he was unconscious for 45 minutes, which meant he had a lack of oxygen supply to his brain so he now suffers with an acquired brain injury.

Last year February when James was admitted into hospital his initial prognosis was that he would potentially be in a vegetative state.

But by God’s grace and all of your prayers, James has emerged from this state and has regained his awareness and communication, however he will require a lot of help learning to develop his speech and to re-learn to do everything again.

Suffering a brain injury can sometimes leads to physical disabilities , James unfortunately has restricted mobility and is currently in a wheelchair.

James has sated that he will walk again and he has the determination and faith in God to do this regardless of his current inabilities.

James is still learning to understand both of his disabilities, Neuro and Physical. I am confident that James will live a prosperous and joyful life and his disabilities will not stop him from achieving all the things he set out to achieve in life.

It’s been a difficult year but we are truly greatful for the progress James has made thus far considering all he had to physically and mentally heal from .

James was not in a gang and he led an active life within society and giving back to his community, people say James was in the wrong place at the wrong time he wasn’t our James was in the right place at the right time doing what he does best, taking him mums bike out to test ride it because he wanted to make sure it was safe for her to ride, that is the boy James is, he is always looking out for others.

James is on a road to recovery both physically and mentally and will be coming to terms with what has happened.

On the Morning of James’ incident I wrote a post on social media discussing serious youth violence and 12 hours later, our family was now living with the effects of it.

We need to stand firm in prayer with the belief that, these small minority of young people will hear God’s word and stop the harm they inflict on each other.

I pray that the perpetrators will be forgiven and change their lives and live the way God intended.

Our young people need our help, often many people ask me how can we help ;

We can help by emailing or writing to the Home Secretary Priti Patel and also your local MP, regarding James’ incident highlighting how it has affected you and the community.

We need to write and ask for better ;

• Youth services

• Mental health services

• Early years prevention

• The teaching of Trauma First aid in secondary schools

• We also need to have our community centres reinstated back into society for a place for all members in particular our young people within our community to come together and have a safe place to go as opposed to – as the young people say ” being on the streets”.

On behalf of James’ Mum, and the family we want to thank you all for the prayers, messages and support.