Rastafarian who survived Coral Gardens massacre battles cancer
FIFTY-FIVE YEARS after suffering persecution and imprisonment as a victim of the Coral Gardens massacre, Rastafarian elder Isaac ‘Bongo Isaac’ Wright is facing a new challenge in the form of cancer.
The 84-year-old, who was beaten by the police, and who went without food while incarcerated for nine days, is facing possibly the greatest test of his lifetime as he fights multiple myeloma, a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell.
Religiously, he is expected at the Cornwall Regional Hospital every Friday, where he receives chemotherapy, but not before he swallows 10 tablets, at a cost of $1,000 per week – money he doesn’t have.
SOURCING MEDICATION
“The Government does not have the tablets at the hospital, so I have to source it at an outside pharmacy,” the elderly man, who lives in a onebedroom unfinished house in Retirement, St James, tells The Gleaner. His chemotherapy is free, but buying the tablets has seen the elder Rastafarian suffering to make ends meet.
PROMISED REPARATION
Bongo Isaac is calling on the Government to allocate his benefit from the $102 million promised as part of reparation for those who were persecuted during the massacre. He is the oldest of 21 known survivors of the massacre, says a report that was done by the Office of the Public Defender.
“I could use my money to buy medication, food and tablets to help with my anaemia. If I don’t get that kind of help, it would be threatening to my life,” he moaned.
A farmer all his life, Bongo Isaac said if the money cannot be allocated immediately, then possibly a pension could be set up for him through the offices of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport.