commentary by Patrick H. Moore
Life is hard and that goes for children as well as adults. Probably no one, though, has it as tough as a handicapped child with incompetent parents. I say parents in this case because even though 9-year-old Ayahna Comb had a father who now claims he would have done anything to help his child, the fact of the matter is he was not there when she needed him most.
Although Ayahna was 9-years-old at the time of her death in January from malnutrition and dehydration, she weighed only 14 pounds when her sister found her remains in the crisper of the “family” refrigerator in their Houston apartment when she and two friends were looking for a cheese stick snack.
Sasha Goldstein writes for the New York Daily News:
Amber Keyes, 35, faces a charge of injury to a child for allowing Ayahna Comb, a 9-year-old girl who suffered from cerebral palsy and couldn’t feed or clothe herself or move without a wheelchair, to wither away and die in January.
According to the Houston Chronicle, when Ayahna passed away, her mother Amber wrapped her in a blanket and placed her emaciated remains in the crisper.
It’s a funny thing about neighbors. In the case of Ayahna, they state that they became concerned when they didn’t see the child outside in her pink stroller being given her walk for months on end. But although they were allegedly worried, they kept their concerns to themselves, not that it would have made any difference since Ayahna was already dead.
And what about Ayahna’s sister? Where did she think her sister was when the tiny 9-year-old suddenly vanished? Perhaps Amber told Sister that Ayahna had been sent to live with her father or another relative. But I suspect that in her heart, Sister knew that something was very wrong but didn’t know where to turn or what to do about it.
And what about Father? According to KHOU-TV, Father – whose name is Armand Comb – told the station that Amber continued to tell him that Ayahna was alive (that did not necessarily mean alive and thriving) right up until her remains were discovered.
In fact Armand said that “he even spoke to Keyes (Amber), who pretended Ayahna was listening as Comb sang her a song.” That’s all well and good but why didn’t Armand speak to his daughter either before or after he sang her a song? Of course it’s possible that Ayahna only spoke with difficulty or couldn’t speak at all.
Steven J. Bachrach, MD, explains in an online article intended to educate friends and family members on how best to cope with CP:
“If CP affects the part of the brain that controls speech, a person with CP might have trouble talking clearly or not be able to speak at all.”
In any event, if we are to take Armand’s words at face value, he was available to help all along, or at least that’s what he told the reporters when interviewed in June:
“I just want to know what happened, man, and why. I was right here. I would have helped. I would have done anything.”
But most of all, what about Ayahna’s mother, Amber Keyes? Her story is that she panicked when Ayahna “stopped breathing one night in January”. She claims she tried CPR, but chose not to call the authorities when she couldn’t revive the frail child, choosing instead to place her daughters remains in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator which her family continued to use for the next 5 or 6 months.
Amber Keyes admitted to the authorities that after Ayahna’s death, “she continued to collect Social Security benefits in her disabled daughter’s name”.
Perhaps most damning is the fact that “Keyes didn’t take the girl to the doctor for two years prior to her death.” During the weeks before her death on Jan. 29, Ayahna became increasingly “difficult to feed”.
Dr. Bachrach explains that the following service providers can be beneficial to children with CP:
• a pediatric orthopedist
• a developmental pediatrician who looks at how the person is growing or developing compared with other teens
• a pediatric physiatrist (or rehabilitation physician), who helps kids with disabilities of many kinds
• therapists, like physical therapists to help with movement, occupational therapists to help with skills like handwriting, and speech therapists
Clearly, Ayahna received none of this help even though as a disabled child receiving benefits, some of these services would probably have been available to her if her mother had fought for her.
According to the autopsy, Ayahna “died of malnutrition and dehydration”. Her death has been death ruled a homicide.
The charging documents read:
“By not providing the proper parental care or seeking medical and/or professional assistance for [Ayahna's] condition, the defendant caused injury to [Ayahna] by omission, which led to the death of [Ayahna] due to neglect.”
Ayahna’s sister has been taken into protective custody. It is noted that at present, she has not been sent to live with Armand. Of course, we don’t know if Arm,and is Sister’s biological father.
And much like most real criminal matters, the deeper you dig, the worse it gets. It turns out that Amber Keyes reportedly “previously lost custody of a third child, who was 18 months old in 2002 when child services learned her boyfriend was abusing the tot and removed the child from the Houston home.”
Amber Keyes bail has been set at $50,000.
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In this post, I’ve been somewhat tough on both Amber and Armand. But the fact of the matter is that that this mother should never have had children. For whatever reason, and I suspect she is not the sharpest tool in the shed, she does not have the ability to be an adequate caretaker. This does not necessarily mean that she didn’t try her best, but it does mean that her best was not nearly good enough.