TOLEDO, Ohio — A father loses a son. A grandmother's grandson dies. Two very separate cases but in each one, the survivor commits themselves to the mission that their loved one didn't die in vain.
Up first, Charles Jenkins. He goes by "Chip." He is from Medina County. There is a chance if you watched Ohio State-University of Michigan or Cleveland-Pittsburg last weekend, you saw him in a TV spot.
In that spot, Chip talked about his son Alex.
After her son's son was born, she spent the next 14 months as a primary caregiver to the little guy, A.J. But that changed when the baby's mother, who never married the father, took the little guy to Santa Rosa, Texas. Still, grandma stayed in his life and when he was old enough to travel would fly him up about once every year.
One stay stretched to two years, but A.J's relationship with his dad, Stan, strained. He went back to Texas. He was just 12 when his mother hanged herself.
A.J. was sent into foster care. He would later get into trouble, spend some time incarcerated and tragically, battling depression and possibly, other mental illnesses, tied a sheet to a balcony railing and, like his mom, hung himself.
Earlean Belcher, who is known as "Queen Cookie," is that grandma who stayed in her grandson's life until that life was gone. She commissioned a documentary about A.J.'s troubled life, which you can see on Amazon Prime. "A Cry for Help: AJane Burt's Story."
A.J. was crying for help. Who didn't hear that cry or heard it but didn't act on it?
