St James man seeks assistance for corrective surgery
Miguel McKenzie said he lost all his independence when he broke both legs in a motor vehicle accident two years ago. If being unable to work and walk is not enough, McKenzie said he has also lost his relationship.
“From the accident happen, my girlfriend left me. Somebody tell mi say mi nah go can manage mi woman again because mi waistline damage, but mi still can wine. Mi feel say she left because she think mi nah go can take care of her again and sex her again, but when mi wake up a night time to pass mi urine, mi ting ‘up’ same way … nutten nuh wrong wid deh so,” he said.
Now a wheelchair user, the 37-year-old said he is seeking the public’s assistance to do corrective surgery in order to walk again.
“The doctor’s fee and the surgery cost will come up to approximately $800,000, but right now I don’t see the first cent because I haven’t work since. Mi nah go lie, mi feel shame fi a beg, but mi nuh have no other choice right now. Mi is usually a very independent man, but mi can’t manage on mi own right now,” he said.
McKenzie said he was working as a conductor on a Coaster bus that plies the Montego Bay to Kingston route, when the life-altering incident occurred. He later found out that the insurance coverage on the bus had expired.
“When the bus reach Trelawny and a turn to town, the driver lost control and the bus turned over, and persons died on top me. Others panicked and trampled me to get out. I was rushed to the Falmouth Hospital, where I was told that my two legs were broken and mi hip badly damaged. Dem ‘patch’ and send me to Cornwall Regional Hospital,” he said.
BONES HEALED OUT OF PLACE
McKenzie said he spent three months in the Cornwall Regional Hospital before the doctors performed an operation on his legs, but by that time, the bones had already began healing out of place.
“The doctor dem ‘b*tch’ me up because they did not put the right iron in my legs, so now both my feet makes me look handicapped. The pins dem a come out a the bone, so because a that mi can’t walk,” he said. “Right now mi miss mi job, and fi know that I have to sit down now and can’t move, a drive me crazy. I am in so much pain. Sometimes when the lightning flash, I feel like I am being electrocuted from the brain downwards. Honestly, sometimes I feel to just cut my legs and rip out these iron and bleed to death. Mi live with mi mother and stepfather, but both a dem sick and a should a mi a take care a dem, but mi can’t manage” he added.