In 2010, a family found a child with Down syndrome in their attic. The person who was supposed to take care of him had not fed him and had not taken care of him.
Giovanni “Govi” Eastwood was 6 years old at the time, but he was as heavy as a 3-year-old.
Rachel Perez’s mom was detained because she had outstanding warrants. The police found her other kids and transported them to a secure place. But Govi stayed in the attic of his house in Kansas.
“She (Perez) made up some story about where Govi was,” said Sergeant John Klingele, who located Govi. “So they all went, but Govi stayed.”
The cops thought the kid could still be inside, so they went back to check. After screaming out to the kid, they finally realized out that he was in the attic.
Klingele remarked of Govi when he first saw him, “He looked like a kid from a concentration camp, skin and bones.” “We were told he would be 7, but he looked more like 3.”
Govi weighed barely 17 pounds and couldn’t walk, talk, or move. He was also covered in crap.
The boy’s hair had fallen out, his bones were weak and twisted from rickets, and he had lost the fat on his bottom. The Kansas City Star claimed that doctors told them that Govi would not have lived much longer if he had not been saved that night.
There was no blanket or toys, and the boy had just been put up there. The cops felt his mom had put him up there to keep him safe.
Perez is in prison for eight years for trying to kill someone because of how she treated her child.
Six years later, the police who found Govi that day saw him again and couldn’t believe how much he had changed.
“The child is magical.”
Stacy and Joe Eastwood, Govi’s great aunt and uncle, took him and his two sisters in and raised them as their own. Govi had to do a lot to get better. He was afraid he would get hit every time someone wanted to high-five him at first, so he just slept on the floor. But now he knows his new family loves and protects him.
“The child is magical.” Eastwood said, “He just makes everyone he meets a better person.”
The police officers who saved him could tell that the 12-year-old who came to see him at the Sheriff’s Department in 2016 was different. He was granted a plaque and became an honorary deputy there.
Govi shook the officers’ hands to thank them for saving him that day.
“That boy is the hero.” “It’s great to see him,” Klingele said, looking at how big his heart and smile are.
Govi’s great aunt reports that he slept with his special plaque that night.
It’s hard to see a parent doing this to their own child. I’m so glad they found him when they did and that he is now living in the loving home he deserves. Please tell other people.