Teen obesity has grown to epidemic proportions in the United States and according to a report by the US Department of Health and Human Services , 14% of adolescents in the United States are overweight.(SOURCE)

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This figure has nearly tripled in the last 20 years.(Source)

This leaves these obese teens open for several health risk such as early death, heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Heavy teens may also have problems regulating mood, sleep, and energy levels, as well as have self-esteem and social problems related to their weight issues.

These secondary issues may even compound the weight problems by making it difficult to stick to a healthy eating and exercise program.(SOURCE)

Add to that list, as in the sad case of Jamaya Herron,18,the inability to escape a house on fire, in order to save your own life.

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Jamaya Herron of Rockford,Illinois, died Wednesday in an early morning fire that destroyed her families house at 2206 Clover Avenue in Rockford just before 4:00 a.m. Monday.Her two parents, Joe and Delores Herron, escaped, but their daughter and two foster kids,Joequavian, 11, and Javarus Blankenship ,10 were still inside a bedroom trapped by the fire, when the firefighters arrived on the scene.

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My personal rule as a parent is that my kids lives come first, and if they are inside the house, then I will die trying to get them out myself!!!

The firefighters were able to get the two young boys out of the house by passing them through a window,but they were challenged in rescuing Jamaya because, they said, she weighed over 500 pounds and proved to be too heavy for them to carry or move, and it was physically impossible for them to pass her through the window in order to save her life.

In fact, although they tried as hard as they could, two firefighters were injured in their attempt to carry her out of the house,and had to be checked out by doctors after they hurt their backs trying to save the morbidly obese teen.

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Fire Chief Derek Bergsten said this about his team of rescuers… “They gave a 110% effort,and did their best, but sometimes we’re not able to save everyone, but we were able to get two individuals out of that structure alive,”…

Since she was too fat to pass through the window, two firefighters attempted to carry her out the door, but in doing so it lengthened her exposure to the smoke, which proved to be fatal.

Emergency officials pronounced Jamaya dead at the scene, and officially reported the cause of her untimely death to have been caused by smoke inhalation.

Illinois fire officials reported to the media that she was just “too fat to get out of the burning house”…which is a shame!

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The cause of the fire is being blamed on a candle that was left burning unattended on a table that caught fire.The family was using candles to light the house because the house, which belongs to her father Pastor Joe Herron of First Trinity Baptist Church,had been boarded up because the city condemned the house saying it was unsafe.

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No one was supposed to be living there, because the city determined it to be uninhabitable.

The house had no electricity, no water, and no gas, and the city condemns properties that have no running water, and the residence was on record as being vacant.(SOURCE)

Friends and neighbors were surprised to hear that the house had been condemned, and were unaware that the pastor was going through financially hard times.

Pastor Herron rented a church where he held congregations and also maintained this house as a place for his family to reside.

He still rents the church…but had his family living in squalor?!?!…I am not here to judge, but…come on pastor!!!

If he wants to accept it or not, his misplaced priorities, as well as him and his wife’s disregard for Jamaya’s health by allowing her to balloon to over the reported too pounds, is at cause in her death.

…sounds like child neglect, or some type of neglect to me, and it proved to be fatal.

The 10-year-old is in serious condition in the hospital due to the trauma sustained in the fire, and the 11-year-old is in critical condition.

They were flown to a hospital in Madison with severe smoke inhalation.(SOURCE)

I pray for their health, and hope all of you will too.

The Rockford authorities have refused to charge the pastor and his wife,who made sure that they got out of the house, leaving the children to perish,with any crime, because they feel that he has suffered enough.

The firefighters are concentrating on educating the community on the importance of having working smoke detectors, and are canvassing the neighborhood with material on that, as well as volunteering to check the residences smoke detectors to see if they are working or not.

What they can not help is a fool who would call himself a man of God, yet not put his own house in order.I know a lot of preachers, some good men, and some not so good.

Any good man would not put the lives of his family in jeopardy in order to continue to rent a building to hold church!..this is a total example of a preacher with bad judgement, and he will have to answer to a higher power for this.

The family had just recently moved back into the house after having to stay in a residential hotel,where they should have never left.

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If you would like to help the family, there will be a benefit dinner on Sept. 26th from 12-3 at Covenant Community Church of God at 300 College Avenue. There’s also a benefit fund set up through Harris Bank in the name of Rev. Joe Herron…

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…but I feel that based on his lack of good judgement exhibited here is at cause in Jamaya’s death…I will try to find a way to donate the money to an outside conservator who may be responsible enough to get the money to the injured children that are fighting for their lives at this time..Joequavian, 11, and Javarus Blankenship,10.

This careless preacher who allowed his daughter to become 500 pounds, should have known better, and I refuse to give him a pass for his fatally bad judgement and misplaced family priorities.

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Let me know your thought…

Sources…

Channel3000.com

Rockford-Register Star

MyStateline.com