A 14-year-old Wisconsin girl suffering from an illness that will take her life has decided to unhook her ventilator and die — but not before she attends prom.
Hundreds turned up Friday night to support Jerika Bolen of Appleton as she celebrated "J's Last Dance."
“It makes my heart explode, it’s so crazy that people want to come for little old me,” Jerika told NBC 5 affiliate WGBA. "It's really awesome."
Jerika got her hair done and put on a fancy dress, flowers were sent from across the globe, she was escorted by police and a fire truck, a YouTube star made a surprise appearance and a favorite boy band sent a video message.
“It’s so bittersweet because it’s such a happy occasion for such a sad reason,” said Sue Lamars, who coordinated the event.
Friends and family at the event were still coming to terms with the fact that Jerika will soon be gone.
“I just really want to support her through all of this,” said one friend, Avianna Akers. “It is really scary to hear that she’s not going to go longer, but at least she’s not going to be in pain anymore.”
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Jerika has spinal muscular atrophy type 2, which destroys nerve cells in the brain stem and spinal cord. She's never walked and is in constant pain.
Despite a daily battle of suffering with the disease, Jerika is the one who is the source of strength for those around her.
“Something main that I will miss is when I’m upset, she’ll always make me laugh no matter what I’m feeling,” Akers said.
Jerika knows the disease will get worse, which is why she gained the courage to tell her family she could not take it any longer.
“The last big surgery I had, I was ready,” Jerika said in an interview with the Post Crescent. “I didn’t want to do that surgery, but I did it for my mom and my family, because it’s tearing them apart. It’s making them really sad that I’m going on hospice, they’re really going to miss me.”
She will be removed from her ventilator in late August.
“I said Jerika I love you that much that I will not let you suffer," her mother, Jen Bolen said.
Jerika’s biggest worry isn’t on her own death, but instead ensuring her family will carry on and find happiness without her. “She always says I’m what she lives for,” Jerika said of her mother in the interview with the Post Crescent. “So if I’m gone?”
“It’s going to hurt my family,” Jerika tells the Post Crescent. “But they will… They eventually will be okay … And my memory will carry on.”
She hopes the attention around her prom will be able to help others with the disease.
“I want people to be aware of it and I want people to work on getting a cure,” she says.
