Against all odds, Jake was alive. In the depths of suffering, he discovered an extraordinary power within himself—the will to survive. But survival wasn’t the only battle he’d have to fight. As he clawed his way back to life, one heartbreaking revelation at a time, the question remained: Was his recovery truly a second chance… or just another game of control? Content warning: Drug use/abuse, addiction, death and dying, medical trauma, emotional distress & mature content. Resources can be found on our website, blinkthepodcast.com Blink is part of The Binge - subscribe to The Binge to get new episodes of Blink one-week early and all episodes completely ad-free. Just Hit ‘Subscribe’ at the top of the Blink show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com. The Binge – feed your true crime obsession. Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices . . . . . Hosted and produced by Corinne Vien Co-created by Jake Haendel Original composition by Michael Marguet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the content warnings for this episode?
And in this particular episode, pregnancy and child loss is also mentioned. Content warnings for each episode are included in the show notes. Resources for drug addiction and domestic abuse can be found in the show notes and on our website, blinkthepodcast.com.
The testimonies and opinions expressed by guests of the show are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of myself or affiliates of this podcast. After timing out of hospice care, Jake's motionless body was physically removed from the bed. The borrowed medical equipment stripped away, and then, just like that, he was left on the floor. It's almost impossible to wrap my head around.
How could this happen? How could someone so vulnerable be discarded like an afterthought? Every new detail in Jake's story just leaves my jaw on the floor. Just when I think I've heard it all, there's something else. While Jake lay there, his family was left in the dark, desperate for answers. For all they knew, he was dead. Had he suffered in his final moments? No. Had he been in pain?
And the most haunting question of all, was this the end of Jake's story? Would they ever see him again, even if only at his funeral?
It became a void, and we had no idea how Jake was. And, you know, given his prognosis and the course of the disease that we were aware of up to that point, and, I mean, you know, Varda would reach out, and Jerome couldn't get in either.
He was getting all his reports from the hospice nurse, not from Al, and somehow, miraculously, he didn't die. He was still alive.
I get a phone call from one of his caretakers, all freaked out about, do you know where Jacob is? I said, no, I have no idea where he is. Don't you know? Last I knew he was home, she goes, no, we got fired. The company says we can't go to work. We're worried about him. I said, jeez, okay, thanks.
There wasn't much Derone could do with a restraining order, but a couple of months later, when his sister Varda traveled up to Massachusetts for Derone's trial, which was the trial involving Ellen and the stairs, Derone asked Varda if she wanted to go with him to see Jake.
Derone says, you know, I have no idea what's going on with Jake. I haven't heard anything in months. I'm going to get the police to give me an escort. Do you want to come? I said, of course, I really want to see him. So the police officer comes. We go. We ring the doorbell. Nothing. We knock, knock, knock. Nothing. The cop goes with us. We're like, the drone said, can we look through the windows?
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Chapter 2: How did Jake's family react to his condition?
But that's when it kind of hit me that he's fully he's fully cognitively intact. His language is there. He just can't speak. His cognition is totally intact. He's literally trapped in his body. And that's, I think, when I'd always been sympathetic to his case. Like, from the minute I met him, I wanted to help as much as I could.
But when I realized how trapped he was in there is when I got, like, fully emotionally involved, too.
From there, Jake graduated to the Megabee.
It's basically this big board where it has letters and colors and numbers all throughout the board. And basically Jake's able to more quickly scan and select letters so he can communicate faster. To use the Megabi, your cognition and language has to be totally intact. You have to be sharp as a tack, and you have to have very good attention. Your cognition has to be really good.
Really good attention, really good working memory, very good visual scanning and tracking, very good language. Do you know the language that's involved in spelling every single word you want to say before you say it while you're saying it? Like, it's insane.
Helen was still spending time in the hospital with Jake, and Michelle recalls her interactions with her.
She was there every day at the beginning. I want to say the first week or two she was there every day, I'll say. I didn't interact with her often. When I came in for therapy, she usually left. She was a little confusing to me at the beginning because and I try not to judge truly because everyone handles grief and stress differently.
But I did find her challenging sometimes because she would be kind of reticent to participate in therapy or to have him participate in therapy. I know because I was speech, therapy starts at eight o'clock every morning at the hospital. And usually if there's a swallowing component, speech will go see in someone in the morning.
So I had a lot of eight o'clock sessions with Jake because I wanted to do his oral care. I wanted to get him up and maybe we could try some trials of solids or liquids. And I don't know, it was morning sessions were pretty common for us. And I remember I would always knock on the door, the door would be closed, and she would be in there sleeping.
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