Family struggles to pay for child's funeral, hospital bills

ATLANTA — An East Point family is asking for help to pay for a funeral for one child and medical bills for two others involved in a terrible rollover crash one week ago Friday.

Channel 2’s Richard Elliot talked to the children’s mother about a vigil for the little victims.

Jamal Lewis died in the crash on Interstate 20 in Douglasville on Sept. 20.

The funeral is scheduled for Monday afternoon and his family doesn't have the money to pay for it. The tragedy has been very hard for mother Erica Lewis.

“I'm very tired.  I haven't had no sleep.  I haven't been eating, so I'm really just weak right now,” Lewis said.

The crash also seriously injured Lewis’ two daughters, 14-year-old Sandterria and 6-year-old Jasmine. Sandterria remains in critical condition, unconscious, with a serious brain injury. Jasmine suffered a broken pelvis and has to learn to walk again.

Lewis said she thinks Jasmine knows her brother died in the crash.

“So I don't know if she knows what that means, but I kind of feel that she knows because she keeps waking up in her sleep having dreams of the car accident because she screams it out,” Lewis said.

On top of all that, Lewis also has to plan a funeral for Jamal, a funeral that she said costs about $6,000. Some of Jamal's teachers at H.E. Holmes Elementary helped raise about $1,400.

“We just trying to stay strong right now, so trying to be strong for them, keep my head up for them.  I know that if they feel my pain, it makes them pain, so I'm trying not to show my pain,” Lewis said.

If you would like to contribute, you can to the Lewis family memorial fund at any branch of Wells Fargo.

WSBTV