When Jack’s dad got on the phone, he said that they boys had talked about it and really wanted to do this and wondered if they could come over on the weekend. She asked if she could speak to his parents. My sister was not sure what to make of this. He went on to say that he and some of the other guys had a gift for James and they wanted to know if it would be all right for him to have it. My sister received a phone call from Jack who explained that he was a friend of her son. The other boys wanted to get in on this so they offered up some of their old games as well. It turned out that one of the other boys, Jack, had an old PlayStation 2 that he was no longer using. That is when one of the 5 th grade boys named Jake came up with an idea of trying to find a used PlayStation to give to James. He explained that he didn’t have a favorite because he did not have a video game player. Then one day, they asked him what were his favorite video games. Throughout the year, they kept their pledge to simply be a friend.

Even though they weren’t in any of the same classes, they sought him out at recess and lunch and they invited him to play with them. The committed to “have his back” if they ever saw someone bullying him. So they made a pact to befriend the boy with the jet-black hair and the bright smile. One day last fall, some boys noticed other kids at school picking on James. You see something happened this year that has changed his life. Then at six-years old, his new dad died following a bicycle accident.Īt age twelve, he found that he was often the easy target of teasing and bullying. His impairments included delayed development, poor vision, a lack of depth perception, low muscle tone, and autism. He had what doctors would call SMI (or severe multiple impairments) that were believed to have been caused by some prenatal trauma. As their first child, he filled their lives with joy.īy the time he was two years old, it was obvious that he wasn’t doing things that most two-year olds do. At four months old, he was adopted by my sister and brother-in-law.

James gang pizza