Izayah Arlen
Wayne Denison
October 2, 2008
- December 30, 2008
In a picture taken just
days after his birth, Izayah Denison is wearing a shirt that said "My Hero"
on the front. Little did any one know that the shirt would prove
to be true. Izayah would be a hero to babies who would need his organs.
Izayah was laying in a hospital, brain dead and surgeons were going to
remove his organs to be given to
other sick babies.
The death of Izayah would give life to three other babies who needed a
heart, kidneys and a liver:
“He’s now a
hero to a lot of babies"
James VanCuren
- Izayah's father
 
When medics arrived
at the home of Jenauh Denison, they found a neighbor performing CPR on
Izayah. Izayah was almost three months old and he was unconscious. Izayah
live in the home with his mother and hit three year old brother. Andrew
W. Whitmore, who was 22 at the time, was arrested later that evening, December
26, 2008, at Sacred Heart Medical Center. Jenauh had checked into the emergency
room earlier that day and Andrew had been taken care of Izayah and his
brother.
Andrew was, at first,
charged with first degree assault of a child in Spokane County District
Court. Judge Sarah Derr set bail at $1 million dollars and said that after
Izayah was taken off of life support and died, the charge would be changed
to first degree or second degree murder.
Papers that were
filed said that Jenauh had checked into the Sacred Heart Medical Center
about four hours before her son was brought in. Izayah was not breathing
and he had bruises on his legs, back and on his bottom. Jenauh said that
Izayah had been colicky that day and she had handed him over to Andrew
and that had calmed him down. Andrew said that he changed Izayah's diaper,
fed him a bottle and found him limp on the couch where he had laid him
down after he fell asleep.
"A baby or
young child cannot not just fall down and injure themselves to the extent
that's
consistent
with these injuries and so we could immediately see that some one
had done this
to the child"
Spokane Police
Detective Sergeant Joe Peterson
Detective Mark Burbridge,
of the Spokane Police Department said to Andrew that the bruised looked
like they had been given to Izayah recently. Andrew put his head down and
said:
"I didn’t
mean to hurt him"
Andrew stated that
he had been playing with Izayah and that his head had snapped back. When
Mark Burbridge said that he knew that was a lie, Andrew admitted that he
had spanked Izayah with a spatula, though he said it had not been very
hard. Andrew said that if Izayah was going to keep crying, he was going
to give him something to cry about. He said that he had shaken him three
times, gently, with a back and forth motion and that after that, Izayah
had gone limp and then stopped breathing.
Jenauh had been dating
Andrew since August and said that Andrew considered Izayah to be his own
son:
"He’d hold
him. He’d dance with him. He’d rock him to sleep. In a way, I do think
it’s my fault. I had
him at my
house. All I know is I hate myself for doing that. I wish we could be psychic"
 
Izayah's father,
James A. Vancuren, said that he had been a happy baby:
"Every time
I’d hold him he’d just look at me and smile and giggle"
A team of doctors
were delayed because of the snow. They had been traveling from Seattle
to see Izayah and to remove his organs to be transplanted into the three
babies:
"It’s not going
to really kick in until he’s gone"
Jenauh
James and Jenauh
plan to get tattoos that will honor their son. On December 30, 2008, at
1:45pm, Izayah was taken off of life support and he died. Izayah was to
be cremated and his ashes would be put into two urns, one for each of his
parents. Jenauh hopes that she can get in touch with the families who have
received the organs donated:
“I hope they
have a better life than everything that we’vehad to deal with”
 
In Spokane Country,
at least two babies a year die from Shaken Baby Syndrome. Sadly, Andrew
and Jenauh had been visited just days before Izayah died, by a public health
nurse who had spoken to them about the dangers of shaking a baby. Through
a program called First Steps, which is a state-funded program to help poor,
pregnant woman receive education about parenting, Jenauh and Andrew had
also been visited on December 23 and scheduled another appointment for
seven days later.
The First Steps program
serves 29,000 women with many of them being single, unemployed and without
a high school diploma. Elaine Conley, the director of Community And Family
Services says that the protocols include having the mother and other caregivers
sign a statement saying that they have participated in the program and
have received information about parenting. Signing the statement shows
that the parents and caregivers are held accountable for the well being
of the children. Officials couldn't comment on if Andrew and Jenauh had
signed the contract or not.
First steps leaves
pamphlets with young mothers and a video can also be shown to warn about
the dangers of who a baby is left with. The video talks about how easy
it is to harm and even kill a baby with shaking, even when it doesn't seem
very severe. The state budget crisis is causing the program to be cut by
about 20% and that will mean many women will not get the counseling they
are in need of. Officials say that the cuts in this program are going to
cause more infant deaths:
“We have more
work to do and yet the money and numbers of nurses aren’t going to be there”
When a baby who is
being seen by First Steps is shaken, a thorough investigation takes place
to make sure that protocol was followed:
"Unfortunately,
sometimes these events happen and there is absolutely nothing that we
could have
done to prevent it"
Marilyn Walli
- Health District’First Steps Manager.
Jenauh confirmed
that the nurse who had visited them had talked to them about Shaken
Baby Syndrome:
“She talked
to us about that, yes. She left pamphlets with us and I sat down with Andrew
and
went over
it again"
Jenauh said that
she had taken a lie detector test and that another one was scheduled, to
show that she was not home when Izayah was hurt:
“They want
to rule out that I had anything to do with this.
I’m not afraid.
I have nothing to hide"
Jenauh said that
she was suffering from postpartum depression and that she had checked herself
into Sacred Heart Medical Center and wasn't even home when Izayah was shaken
by Andrew.
DENISON, Izayah
Arlen Wayne
(Age 2 months,
28 days)
Passed away December
30, 2008. He is survived by his mother Jenauh M. Denison; father James
A. Vancuren; brothers Daumanic W.G. Obrien, Zachary, John Mathew and Elijah
Vancuren; sister Emily Vancuren all of Spokane; maternal grandparents Steve
and Charlotte Etue of Fruitland; maternal great-grandfather Elmer Johnson
of Davenport; paternal grandmother Laurie Nelson; uncles Daniel Vancuren
and Brock Nelson; several aunts, uncles and cousins; close friends Windy
Jenks and John Paul Roots. Preceded in death by two great- grandmothers,
grandfather and an uncle. Memorial Services 1:00 PM, Saturday, January
24, 2009 at Heritage Chapel. Memorial contributions can be made at any
Numerica Credit Union Branch.
.
.
For information about
preventing child abuse in the state of Washington, click the links below.
If they can't help you, ask for someone who can. NEVER give up looking
for help for an abused child!
Call this number
to report child abuse ANY WHERE in the United States!
1-800-4-A-Child
1-800-422-4453
   
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My sincerest appreciation goes out to
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of her beautiful Angels to make the graphics
for this set. Please visit her site,
by clicking the link below, to see all
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