Jun 17, 2009 11:14 am US/Pacific
Raymon Lacy: "I Am My Brother's Keeper"
Student headed for Cal, has grown up caring for disabled brother
ANTIOCH (CBS 5) ―
Raymon Lacy is more like a father to his brother. Isaiah is severely disabled with cerebral palsy and Raymon has grown up caring for him.
Raymon Lacy has a special depth to him that you can't help but notice. It's a sensitivity, a compassion, that has grown out of caring for his younger brother. Isaiah was born prematurely with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and is totally dependant. He is unable to talk or communicate, cannot feed himself or drink from a cup. His mother is the primary caretaker, but it is a 24-7 job, and often takes two.
"Growing up with my brother, and having to take care of him , helping my mother and things like that, have made me who I am," said Raymon. "It's taught me to be patient, its taught me to be understanding for others who are in the same predicament, for others who are mentally or physically disabled."
Watching him with his brother, you can see their relationship is as close as can be. Raymon is as much a father as anything, as he helps Isaiah put on his shoes, or eat.
"He misses out on so many things," said Raymon. "He's 16-years-old but he can't go out and play with the other kids. He can't go to school like he wants to."
The lesson Raymon takes from all this shows his depth of character: "That teaches me that what I do have and everything I can do, I can't take for granted because I'm lucky that I can go to school, and I'm lucky for everything that's given to me."
Almost none of Raymon's teachers at school knew what he was dealing with at home. His Honors English teacher, Heather Keeton wondered why he was missing so much school.
"Í didn't have any idea," she said. "He didn't come in saying, oh I'm sorry, I have all these problems. He never made excuses." He did the work.
When he finally told her, she cried for him.
"He handles it like 'this is my responsibility; this is my life; this is my brother.' He loves his brother. He just deals with it. I don't know how," she says laughing. "I don't know how, but he does. That's what makes him incredible."
When we asked Raymon what was the most difficult thing he's dealt with, it didn't have anything to do with Isaiah. It was his father's murder, when he was in middle school. He grew up with his dad in and out of his life, and missed that father figure desperately. But his father had returned to him, before he was killed. Losing him, is something Raymon struggles with.
"There nothing in the world I can compare to how it feels to losing my father," Raymon says. He holds tightly on to those memories of being with his father, and the encouragement his dad gave him.
"I tell myself he's watching over me and expects more from me and that's my motive to push myself," he says.
Neither of Raymon's parents were able to finish high school, but he has done that now, and has been accepted to U.C.Berkeley. He wants to be close to home to help his mom.
"I see him doing whatever he wants" says Heather Keeton. "Ray is so focused and he's gotten this far with all of the things he's gone through. So I think that whatever he decides to do he's going to do it. He's incredible."
Raymon is interested in a future in computer science.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Obama: Now Senate's Turn On Health Care 20 mins ago 
1000s Wait Hours For H1N1 Flu Shots In Bay Area 37 mins ago 
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments