Soft spoken, polite and a bit reserved, Jean Paulo R. Fernandes comes across as the typical 13-year-old. At this point in life, his major concerns include friends, sports and school.

When asked about his future, he says he’s not sure yet. Unlike most his age, however, Fernandes was well on his way to achieving a promising musical future. Like his grandfather, father and older brother before him, Fernandes’ instrument of choice is the guitar and, like them, his style of choice is classical and gospel.

“Everybody in the family but me and our new baby girl plays music and has talent,” joked Janice Fernandes, Fernandes’ mother.

Which is not entirely true. Janice’s talents just happen to run in another direction. Several of her paintings adorn rooms throughout the family’s Keene home.

Although Fernandes said he’s still unsure whether professional musician is the career he ultimately hopes to pursue, he said it remains a serious option and added that he loves music and playing both guitar and saxophone. A July 12 accident, which occurred while Fernandes was working to raise money toward his tuition bill at Keene Adventist Elementary School, has left those options in serious jeopardy.

“I was mowing a lawn, which had high grass,” Fernandes said. “I had to use the lever to lift the mower up and down so it wouldn’t jam, but the handlebar control broke when I only had a few feet of lawn left to go.”

The mower Fernandes used that day was similar to one owned by the family. Unlike the family-owned mower, however, the blade extended closer to the inside edge of the mower Fernandes was operating. Something Fernandes said he was tragically unaware of as he reached down to adjust the mower’s level.

“I was there,” Janice Fernandes said. “He was almost done, so it was just a split-second distraction. We called the ambulance, which was a problem because we knew where we were, but not the address because it wasn’t our house. They ended up airlifting him to Baylor Hospital in Dallas.”

The blade cut three fingers on Fernandes’ left hand, partially amputating his pinky finger and amputating the entire tip of his ring finger. Fernandes used his left hand to fret chords on his guitar.

“At first I just thought of the guitar and how it’s all ruined,” Fernandes said. “Because I’d heard of cases where people loose a finger and can’t play anymore.”

Earlier that day, Fernandes had been practicing a Mozart piece on guitar with his 15-year-old brother Iago Gabriel Fernandes.

“He yelled out about the guitar,” Janice Fernandes said. “But actually, for all the pain he was in, he showed more concern for me because I was eight-and-a-half months pregnant at the time.”

Unable to locate the tip of Fernandes’ ring finger, Fernandes went to hospital.

They treated him as well as they could but released him the next day because they couldn’t do much until the swelling went down,” Janice Fernandes said.

Today, with three fingers still bandaged, Fernandes said he can use his hand for some things but cannot play guitar like he used to.

“It doesn’t hurt unless I touch the tips,” Fernandes said. “I play a little now with my right hand doing exercise techniques but not songs yet.”

Before the accident Fernandes, like his father and brother, played live several places including the Keene Seventh-day Adventist Church, where the Fernandes family are members.

“My favorite music to play on guitar is classical and gospel or praise music,” Fernandes said. “I like sports, baseball and soccer, and I like to read. But my two main things, guitar and sports are things I can’t do right now.”

Pastor Mic Thurber of the Keene Seventh-day Adventist Church said Jean Paulo and Iago performed wonderfully during several church services.

“Our hope as a community is that even though it must be very discouraging for Jean Paulo right now is that we believe in his talent and the Lord to see him through so that he may play guitar and play it well again,” Thurber said. “We certainly hope and pray for that so that talented boy will find a way to make beautiful music on that guitar again.”

Keene Adventist Elementary School Principal Donna Berkner agreed.

“Oh he and his brother are very talented,” Berkner said. “Jean Paulo came to the school last year. He’s a great student who the community quickly came to know. He’s been a real blessing to the school and we all just want to help him through this.”



Hope remains

Microsurgeries and skin implants may allow Fernandes to play and perform once again. Skin grafts would be used to build up the lost portion of his ring finger. Fernandes said he very much hopes to play again having spent five years and three hours daily, six days a week learning his craft from his father, Saulo Fernandes.

“It would require at least one or two surgeries,” Janice Fernandes said. “They won’t be sure until they do the first and monitor how it goes.”

Fernandes’ first surgery is scheduled for Oct. 1 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“It’s a fraction of the price there,” Janice Fernandes said. “We’d never be able pay for treatment here. How long we’re there depends on how things go. He’ll have three to seven days physical therapy after the first operation. It’s not fair that he’ll be in Rio and not be able to see the beach.”

Nonetheless, the accident hit the family at a difficult time coinciding with the arrival of Fernandes’ sister, Isabella Fernandes, and his father’s return to school to pursue a doctorate at the University of Texas at Arlington.

“Not long before this I took a break from my ministerial work,” Saulo Fernandes said. “It was a bold decision to quit my only paying job, but God called me to pursue a social work doctorate.”



Keene community steps in

Iago Fernandes vowed not to play live again until his brother can also play, Janice Fernandes said. The exception being Saturday’s benefit concert at Southwestern Adventist University to raise funds for Fernandes’ medical expenses.

“His brother will play and so will other guest artists and singers,” Janice Fernandes said. “There’s to be classical guitar and gospel and country music. The idea came from friends at church and his classmates’ parents. It just shows me that our family and son are very well loved in the community.”

The concert will take place in Evans Hall on the Southwestern Adventist University campus.

“The Lord blessed both Jean Paulo and Iago with a great talent, and we’re hoping the operation goes well,” said David Anavitarte, chair of the music department at SWAU.

Fernandes said the community response and planned benefit concert give him hope.

“I’m just thankful to have so many friends and people who care,” Fernandes said. “I never knew I had so many.”



A musical family past,

present and future

Fernandes said he looks forward to playing once again.

“I hope so, but only if it’s what he wants,” Janice Fernandes said. “I have so much pride and joy in him, and he had so much leadership potential that he can do whatever he wants in life.”

Saulo Fernandes agreed that he only wants Jean Paulo Fernandes to be happy but said he hopes music plays a role in his life. Both parents said they wanted their children to have the gift of music instruction.

“Honestly, because music is so much one of the gifts God gave humankind,” Saulo Fernandes answered when asked why he considered music so important. “He is the author of that music, and it fills the heart. It’s important to me that myself and my sons be good classical guitarists yes, but good Christian guitarists most of all.”

Musical instruction provides practical benefits as well, Saulo Fernandes said, what Janice Fernandes referred to as the “fruits of hard labor.”

“There’s character building involved,” Saulo Fernandes said. “It takes a lot of discipline to sit down and practice music, but there’s also that sense of accomplishment.”

Music runs in the family. Saulo’s father received a guitar at the age of 8 from his father, a rancher in the Brazilian countryside. Saulo Fernandes inherited his father’s fondness for Brazilian country music and later gained a love of classical and gospel music. Saulo Fernandes said he hopes now that his sons will carry on the tradition either professionally or for the pure love of music.

“If nothing else, the boys will have to teach [6-week-old daughter] Isabella,” Saulo Fernandes said with a laugh. “I’m getting tired.”

Fernandes’ benefit concert is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday in Evans Hall at SWAU. Admission is free, but donations are welcomed. For information, call 817-556-2104 or 817-641-3336 ext. 38.