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'He'll know Mama tried:' Mother pleads with Department of Transportation for turn lane for epileptic son

Plans to put in a concrete barrier in between the lanes along Avondale Mill Road would add 4 or 5 minutes to the route to get to Leslie Johns' house. Those minutes are crucial for her 16-year-old son with epilepsy.

Leslie Johns spends most of her day with her son Darrell, better known as Peanut.

Peanut was born with hydrocephalus, a condition where fluid in the brain makes his head larger, shaped almost like a peanut. The swelling causes him to have seizures like this one monthly. Sometimes, she can't stop the seizures, so she calls 911.

RELATED: 'I can't keep losing people out here:' Bibb commissioner pleads with GDOT for roundabout

A project from the Georgia Department of Transportation to put in a new concrete median would have ambulances traveling down the road and back around to get to their house. Johns says that's losing precious minutes. "He could have done died in those 4 or 5 minutes," said Johns. 

Johns has been asking her friends and family to call the transportation department and ask for a turn lane for Peanut. "If you change one element, it changes virtually every other aspect of the project," said Johns. 

Penny Brooks spokesperson for the transportation department says they're currently reviewing the plan to see if there's a compromise.

"We only heard about these concerns last week and this project has been in construction phase for a couple of years," said Brooks. 

Johns says she did voice a need for a turn lane to GDOT, but Brooks says that note might not have been passed on.

"Even if they don't change their mind and they put that concrete barrier up, and if later something happens to him, he'll know Mama tried," said Johns. 

Johns says when it's Peanut's time, she's at peace knowing God will take him, but she won't let something man-made be the reason he can't get help.

RELATED: Bibb Co. commissioner looking for county to fund remaining Jeffersonville Rd. construction

Brooks says this is something that would take weeks to decide, but she's hoping to come up with a compromise.

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