HARMONY – A 4-year-old boy whose right leg was amputated above the knee after a lawnmower accident is expected to be fitted for a prosthetic device next week, a family friend said Thursday.

Community members are also organizing fundraisers for Jaydon Talbot and his family to help pay for medical expenses.

“He is recuperating much faster than expected, although we’re not sure when he can come home. Right now our focus is on keeping his spirits going,” said Louann Burgess, a family friend.

Jaydon’s aunt Teresa Gourley said the boy is out of intensive care, but still a patient at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. He is also eating on his own, she said.

On Thursday, a hospital spokesman said Jaydon was in fair condition.

Jaydon fell out of a wagon attached to the back of a lawnmower his father, Stacy, was driving about 7:30 p.m. on June 5. His leg got caught in the blade of the mower, said Somerset County Sheriff’s Deputy Dale Lancaster.

Burgess said Jaydon has had lots of visitors at the hospital, including the LifeFlight helicopter crew that first brought him there and an Iraq war veteran who lost his leg.

“When I see his bike out in the yard I want to cry, but I know I have to stay strong,” said Burgess. “He is really one of a kind — a helpful, sweet kid and a sweetheart.”

As Jaydon recovers, members of the community are coming together to help pay for his medical and transitional expenses.

Burgess said she is organizing a July 20 benefit dinner and auction at the Harmony Elementary School, where Jaydon is a pre-kindergarten student.

She said that her son, Dustin Woodard, 28, and some friends are building a wheelchair ramp at the family’s home.

Woodard, who works at Lovell’s Guilford Hardware in Guilford, said the store is donating the wood for the ramp.

Coach Pitch, the age-8-and-under baseball team that Jaydon belongs to, is also organizing a fundraiser, said coach Angie Knapp, 38, of Harmony.

 

Rachel Ohm can be contacted at 612-2368 or at:

rohm@mainetoday.com