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Tot's Tiny Steps Symbolize Giant Strides For Plantation Family

PLANTATION - (CBS4) - When you see 2-year-old Javod Sharpe take tiny steps, it's hard to imagine how much he's been through to get there.

Those tiny steps symbolize giant strides for the child who was born with a respiratory and chronic lung disorder.

On the day of his birth, he was taken from his mother's arms and placed inside an incubator. When he was finally released, more health problems emerged, his mother Jennifer Jasmin  told CBS4's Cristina Puig.

"He came home from NICU, a week or two later he stopped breathing at home," Jasmin said. "I had to perform CPR.  Doctors told me, 'Mom, make arrangements…he wasn't going to make it.'"

This year the family is grateful that the toddler will spend Christmas at home for the first time since his birth with his twin brother, Jarod, and 5-year-old sister, Jashari.

"We've always been apart or at the hospital," Jasmin said. "He has a tube that provides the food for him directly and other medications he's going to require just to make sure he's ok."

Until now, Kidz Korner, a Plantation-based rehabilitation facility, has been Javod's home for all but two weeks of his life. Based on his progress, doctors now say he's well enough to go home for good.

"He went from just sitting and now is that close to starting to walk.  So he's come a long way," said Javod's physical therapist.

But those at the rehab center say he will be missed.

"We're gonna miss him," said the nursing director of Kidz Korner. "The nurses here just fell in love with him from the first day he got here."

For the Jasmin family, it's the best gift they could ever receive.

"I couldn't ask for anything else.  It's the best Christmas gift I can ever get," Jasmin said.

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