Beach school rallies to help with student's nursing costs

By Jane Bloodworth Rowe

Correspondent

VIRGINIA BEACH

In January, 7-year-old Jonas Paras was an active second-grader, looking forward to his first basketball game of the season. Now he is unable to speak, confined to a bed or wheelchair after suffering brain damage during cardiac arrest.

When he is released from the hospital, he will require day care and in-home nursing. To help offset these costs, New Castle Elementary, where Jonas attends school, is holding a fundraiser tonight at the Chick-fil-A at Salem Crossing.

Jonas, is a well-mannered, bright kid, well-liked by his peers, says his teacher, Derek Kamis. The entire school has rallied to help him, and they plan to donate the proceeds from their annual fundraiser to his family.

Jonas becme ill in mid-January with what his parents thought was a routine winter virus. Doctors discovered that he had pneumonia and needed to be placed on a respirator. He suffered cardiac arrest while the respirator was being inserted.

"He was out for five minutes," according to his father, Dodge Paras.

After four weeks in intensive care at Children's Hospital of The Kings' Daughters, Jonas opened his eyes "but he doesn't move his arms or legs," said Paras. "He just lays there."

"I've been just devastated," said Jennifer Paras, Jonas's mother. "I cry every day." Still, she's grateful that her son "is making progress. It's just going to come in baby steps."

"He's a miracle," she said, "and it's a miracle that he's still with us."

Jonas's two brothers, Dodge Jr., 10, and Diego, 6, sit beside him, hold his hand, and talk to him, their parents said. "When they're at home, Diego just sits on his brother's bed a lot, and he seems lonely without him," Dodge Paras said.

Jonas played flag football and basketball on community leagues, and he also enjoyed bowling, was learning to roller skate, and loved to read. "Math was probably his favorite subject," Jennifer Paras said. "He was always giving me math problems or solving math problems on his own."

Jonas is scheduled to be released from the hospital soon, but his illness will be "life-changing" for the entire family, Jennifer Paras said. "He was so full of life, so active, and so full of personality."

Jane Bloodworth Rowe, 268-2630