Prospect Hts. dad, clinging to life, braved fire for kids
Rhianna Jedd came home from the hospital this week and will celebrate her first birthday with her family, something that might not have been possible if not for her father, Mark Jedd.
Shortly after 3 a.m. June 12, the 40-year-old Prospect Heights father awoke to find his house on fire. His fiancee, Brittany Meyer, was at a music festival in San Francisco, so it was up to Jedd to rescue the couple's two children, 3-year-old Alex and 11-month-old Rhianna.
Police and fire reports say Jedd frantically searched the burning house for Alex but couldn't find him. When the raging fire and thick smoke surrounded him, Jedd grabbed Rhianna out of her crib and ran outside.
"The way the burn marks are on both of them ... it's almost like he cradled her and ran through the flames," Meyer said. "Mark is a hero. He saved her life."
Despite his screams for help and his valiant effort to return to the burning house, Jedd wasn't able to save Alex. Firefighters found the curly-haired toddler hiding in a bathroom, dead of smoke inhalation.
"Every day I see the burns on (Mark's) face and the third-degree burns on his arms ... it just proves how much he tried to get Alex out of there. I know he did everything he could," said Jedd's best friend and Alex's godfather, Jerry Lumbreraz of Northbrook. "I can't imagine the hurt he was going through, when he just couldn't take another step to save his son."
Jedd's efforts to save his children's lives may end up costing him his own. Since the fire, Jedd has been in a coma at Loyola University Hospital's Burn Center in Maywood. Family and friends say his condition is still very critical: His lungs, which are already weak from asthma, are filled with soot. He has severe burns all over his body, especially his arms. And this week he was put on dialysis because his kidneys are failing.
If he doesn't die of his injuries, those closest to him fear he will die of a broken heart when he learns Alex is gone.
The charming little boy who loved animals and people was the light of Jedd's life, and his friends question how he'll be able to live with the fact that he was able to save one of his children but not the other.
"Alex was just everything to him. Everything," Lumbreraz said. "If he comes out of this, and I pray to God every day that he does, I'm scared they're going to want (us) to tell him that his son didn't make it. I don't know how we're going to do it. It's gonna kill him."
The caretaker and hero role was one Jedd played frequently in his life.
When he met Meyer eight years ago, she was a troubled 15-year-old. He took her under his wing, and the two shared a love of the Grateful Dead, dogs and children. They've been engaged for five years, Meyer said.
"He brought me through a dark time. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here today," Meyer said. "He saved my life. This man means the world to me, and he means the world to my kids."
Jedd also was the primary caretaker of both his parents until they died.
His mother died in 1997, but his father was ill for many years before dying of Alzheimer's disease in November.
When his children were born, Jedd beamed with pride. From day one, he changed diapers, prepared meals, took the kids to the park and played on the floor with them.
"I always tell him he's the greatest mom and dad I ever met," joked Meyer's mother, Kerry, of Arlington Heights.
Friends say that because all of Mark Jedd's family have died, his friends became his family. Lumbreraz recalls the time he couldn't afford to go to a jazz festival in New Orleans with all their friends. Jedd bought him a plane ticket and said, "Now can you go?"
"He was a very giving person. A generous person," Lumbreraz said. "He always tried to help people."
Making a living as a computer repairman, friends say Jedd had been unemployed recently but was set to begin a new government job the Monday after the fire.
He had health and homeowners insurance, but Meyer fears it won't cover what are sure to be monstrous bills that await.
Meyer estimates the fire damage alone at $250,000.
Because everything inside the house was destroyed, a fund has been created to help the family replace their possessions, including all of Rhianna's toys and clothes. The fire, ruled accidental, was so intense that it melted their large TV into a mound of plastic.
Meyer said her neighborhood took up a cash collection for her to help her in the short term, so she has money for basic necessities.
"I am so thankful to them," she said. "We've lost everything."
How Meyer will manage financially isn't a priority to her now. What she's focused on is Mark and Rhianna, whom she describes as "my small but beautiful family."
Doctors expect Rhianna to make a full recovery, even though it may take a few years for her burn scars to heal. Mark's fate isn't as certain.
"I think Mark is a very strong man and can pull through," Meyer said. "I don't care if you're religious or not; please pray for Mark. And remember my son. Because my son would never forget you, or anyone that came into his life."
<p class="factboxheadblack">How to help</p>
<p class="News">• The Jedd Family Fund, c/o Chase Bank, 2801 Dundee Road, Northbrook, IL 60062</p>
<p class="News">• Monetary donations will be used to help replace items destroyed in the fire.</p>
<p class="News">• Donations can be mailed or dropped off to Brittany Meyer, 1314 E. Northwest Hwy., Arlington Heights, IL 60004.</p>
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