02/23/2008
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AP photo by Pat WellenbachBy BETTY ADAMS
Staff Writer
At age 17 and weighing 155 pounds, Jonathan McCullum, left Hallowell bound for an adventuresome year abroad as an exchange student studying in Alexandria, Egypt.
He returned Jan. 9 on the brink of starvation, having lost 55 pounds in four months and, doctors in Maine say, nearly his life.
Jonathan sat in his parents' home this week wearing a green and white wrist band he had been given during his 13-day stay at the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland where he was being treated for refeeding syndrome.
"If I ate too much at once it could end up putting too much strain on my heart," Jonathan said of his hospital stay.
"He could have died," said his father, David McCullum.
The 5-foot-9 boy started out receiving 300 calories a day at the hospital, and the amount increased each day. Over the last six weeks, he has gained enough strength to go snowboarding.
But the wrist band will stay, Jonathan says, until he gains enough weight so it's tight.
DOCTOR'S REPORT
Medical records, provided by his parents, show Jonathan was admitted to the hospital a day after his return from overseas.
"Explained refeeding syndrome and risk of cardiac arrest if patient is not properly monitored and treated in the acute phase of returning to normal diet," wrote Dr. Daniel Summers of Kennebec Pediatrics.
"Advised patient and father that he may require tube feeds and psychiatric evaluation, though this will be unlikely given that he wants to eat and return to normal weight."
Jonathan's parents, David and Elizabeth McCullum -- both lawyers -- have consulted with Augusta attorney Robert Stolt with an eye to filing a lawsuit claiming AFS Intercultural Programs, the organization that oversaw the exchange program, failed to adequately protect their son.
They also want other parents to be aware of what happened.
"I chose Egypt because I wanted the country that was the most different from the United States," Jonathan said. "I was hoping for a place where I could discuss politics and get a different view on the Middle East."
FASTING IN THE FAMILY
Differences abounded.
Jonathan said he was placed with a family who fasted for two months, following the precepts of their Coptic Orthodox religion, which sets food restrictions for certain times of the year. Jonathan fasted, too.
The family's main meal, he said, was served in the late afternoon. Largely it was beans, with an occasional fish and vegetable. Lunch -- taken to the Pioneer School, an international school where instruction was in English -- was a piece of bread with cut-up tomatoes and salty cheese.
"I ate what they gave me, which was a smaller portion," Jonathan said, than that eaten by the other family members.
Initially, he said, like most American teenagers, he helped himself to food. Then he was told certain foods were off limits to him, including raisins and peanuts. He said he was told he ate too much, particularly compared to the family's daughter, who was studying in the United States. Communication was difficult. He spoke no Arabic when he arrived, and the host family spoke little English.
Jonathan said he shared food packages sent by the McCullums with his host family. "I thought that was polite," he said.
He also said he was the last of the five-member household to take a shower every morning.
Problems with the placement were not readily apparent to the McCullums, they say.
Both David and Elizabeth McCullum say they tried to abide by AFS advice and allow Jonathan to have a the cultural experience without their interference.
But a Facebook message sent Jan. 4 from a teacher at the Jonathan's school to Elizabeth McCullum alarmed her tremendously.
"Since getting closer to Jonathan, he is on my mind 24/7," the teacher wrote. "His physical and mental well-being worry me so much. Believe me, he is in bad shape. If you remember the anorexic twins that were on TV a while back, well, he looks like one of them. . . . I can tell that he really, really NEEDS to go home."
'THEY WERE IN A PANIC'
Then the family saw a Facebook photo of their son grinning and holding up a ram's head that had been posted Dec. 19, 2007. Jonathan's face is so thin his white teeth appear too large.
"We were in a complete panic," Elizabeth McCullum said. A former deputy director of the Department of Health & Human Services and a guardian "ad litem" (meaning, representing children in the court system), she is familiar with children in trouble.
"I have really devoted my life to seeing that the kids in Kennebec County are safe," she said.
Local AFS volunteers were reluctant to speak about the case, saying they were told a lawsuit may be forthcoming and referred callers to Patricia Peard, an attorney who represents AFS in legal matters in Maine.
Peard declined to comment on Jonathan's study exchange experience. "We have an obligation to this boy, and we just don't discuss particular kids' experiences," she said Wednesday. "We don't discuss individuals or their circumstances.
"AFS has been doing this for years and is very experienced in helping parents with what's an appropriate level of contact, and I'm sure they did that in this case as they did in all cases."
A section on the AFS Web site, www.afs.org/afs_or/home talks about the possibility something can go wrong in an exchange.
"AFS puts a priority on its work to control and reduce risks for participants on AFS exchanges," it says.
In November 2007, at a celebration in Augusta marking the 60th year of AFS, Larry Ralph, central Maine coordinator said some 50 students from Maine were studying abroad under AFS auspices, and more than 80 students from other countries would come to Maine to study this year.
Now that Jonathan is recovering, he is eager to travel again. He left for Florida on Wednesday, and talked of returning to Africa in the summer to work with a program similar to Habitat for Humanity.
And next fall he hopes to be in good enough shape to play soccer for Hall-Dale High School, where he will be a senior.
Betty Adams -- 621-5631
badams@centralmaine.com
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