In 2010, a boy with Down syndrome was found in the attic of his family home, starving and abandoned by those who were supposed to care for him.
Giovanni “Govi” Eastwood was 6 years old at the time, but he weighed like a 3-year-old.
His mother, Rachel Perez, was taken into custody on outstanding warrants, and police found her other children and took them to safety, but Govi remained in the attic of his Kansas home.
“She (Perez) made up some story about where Govi was,” said Sergeant John Klingele, who found the boy. “So everyone ended up leaving, and Govi was still there.”
The officers had a hunch the boy was still in the house, so they returned to inspect it again. After calling out to the boy, they eventually realized he was in the attic.
“He looked like a concentration camp kid, skin and bones,” Klingele recalled when he first saw Govi. “We were told he’d be 7, but he looked maybe 3.”
Howie weighed only 8 kg and could not walk, barely spoke and was covered in excrement.
Due to nutritional deficiencies, the boy lost his scalp hair, his bones were brittle and deformed from rickets, and the fatty tissue on his buttocks had atrophied. Medical staff said Govi wouldn’t have lived much longer if he hadn’t been rescued that night, as reported by the Kansas City Star.
There was no blanket or toys; the boy had simply been left there. Authorities believed his mother had placed him there to hide him.
Perez is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence for attempted murder over the treatment of his child.
Six years later, the officers who found Howie that day were reunited with him and couldn’t believe his transformation.
This guy is magical.
Govi and his two sisters were taken into care and adopted by their great-aunt and great-uncle, Stacey and Joe Eastwood. Govi’s recovery took some time; at first, he slept only on the floor and worried about being hit every time someone high-fived him, but now he feels safe and loved by his new family.
“This guy is magical. Everyone he comes into contact with becomes a better person,” Eastwood said.
The officers who rescued him certainly noticed a positive change in the 12-year-old boy, who visited them at the Sheriff’s Department in 2016, where he was made an honorary deputy and presented with a plaque.
Howie shook the officers’ hands and thanked them for saving him that day.
“This boy is a hero. Seeing his big heart and smile… It makes me so happy to see him,” Klingele said.
According to his great-aunt, Howie slept with his special sign that night.
It’s unbelievable that a parent could treat their child like that. I thank God he was found when he was, and is now in the loving home he so deeply deserves. Please share this.
