Two years later, Nicola Blades still unable to walk

Aug 02, 2010 News

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NEW AMSTERDAM, BERBICE – “Imagine, I am 23 years old. My mother bathes me, she has to change my pampers and dress me as if I were a baby. I have a tumor growing on my spine. I am an invalid. Please help me. Please give me the chance to live like a normal girl and not an invalid. As it is, my mother does everything for me.”
Nicola Blades of Lot 59 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam first appeared in the Kaieteur News in September 2008. Almost two years later, the young woman is still unable to walk.

In 2005, she had suffered a sudden inability to walk and according to her medical documents, there is sensory sensation in the lower limbs but no motor activity. Interestingly, she suffered no trauma before the change.
The findings of an MRI in 2007 showed, after a T2W screening of the thoracic spine, that the posterior epidural at T4, T5 and T6 level elevated the posterior ligament (ligamentum flavum) with possible collection/mass. Her documents also show that there may be an in dural mass like meningioma. The thoracic cord was swollen with changes of cord edema from T4 to T 6 level.
On May 8th 2008, the Internal Medicine Department of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation presented the family with a medical report which states, inter alia, that Nicola is suffering from weakness of lower limbs. According to the document, which was purportedly signed by Dr. R. Doobay MRCP (UK), Head of Internal Medicine, she was referred for surgical treatment overseas.
The woman and her mother, Claudette Blades, were scheduled to meet with a specialist in Trinidad on October 7, 2008 but were unable to make the trip since they did not have the required funds.
Once again the family is appealing for financial assistance and advice on the way forward. According to the mother, her only child must now start the procedure all over again and they can ill afford it.
“The last MRI in 2009, I spent $83,500. I had to scrape from everywhere to get that amount and now this MRI is no longer valid so we have to do over all the tests and so. How can I afford that? I am a vendor in the New Amsterdam Market. She has to remove the tumor.”
According to the mother, in 2009 they received an estimate from the Westshore Medical Centre in Trinidad with a ballpark figure for the surgical procedure but this too must be updated.
“Back then they said the cost was TT$73,450 to do the surgery; we did not raise enough money. Now I do not know if the price increased because we have to go it all over again.”
According to her, last Friday she contacted officials at the Ministry of Health to re-commence the process.
“I was told that the documents were destroyed in the fire and I have to start over again. I have to go back to the medical doctor and do it all over again before we can make any further move.”
Based on articles carried in the Kaieteur News on Nicola’s case in 2008 and 2009, well-wishers had made financial contributions.
“With all the donations we collected then we had opened an account, 749602-9, at the Republic Bank and we got $250,000. This amount is still in the bank, we did not use any of it.”
The soft spoken Nicola Blades is optimistic that God will provide a way for her to walk again and live the life she can only dream of.
“I have the faith and I know I will but I still get upset when I see others my age living a normal life and I cannot.”
At one point she had completely given up.
“In those days I used to say, ‘God why you don’t take me right now?’ It is not easy because my mother gotta do everything for me. I wanted to die. But my mother keeps encouraging me and now I believe I will get help.”
Even a few words of encouragement can brighten Nicola’s day. She can be contacted on telephone numbers 333-3850 and 683-7312.

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Humanitarian Mission continues

– organisation head laments exploitation by some

WILLIAMSBURG, CORENTYNE – Head of the New Jersey Arya Samaj Humanitarian Mission Pandit Suresh Sugrim expressed disgust at the level some persons go in order to acquire help. The Humanitarian Mission is known for the aid it renders to families in need in the form of construction of low-cost houses, the distribution of hampers, vouchers for food and educational needs and cash to offset medical expenses.
Pandit Sugrim claimed that over the past five years, the Mission expended millions of dollars in its bid to aid the poor but now he feels his organization is being blind-sided by some unscrupulous persons, “There are those who pretend that they are in need and in many cases what we found is that these are the persons who are fleecing our organization. I saw many persons who constantly ask for help and on close inspection, we discovered they are not in need of help but are just bent on living off the generosity of not only the Humanitarian Mission but off anyone who is willing to assist them. In short what we realize this year is that there are some people who have been exploiting us.”
He cited some examples to support his opinion.
“We saw cases where people are double-ditching; they collect from us on a regular basis and they have relatives overseas who send barrels and money for them on a monthly basis. This is wrong. I went into one home unexpectedly; the people are always claiming they are in dire need.  I walked into that house and I saw several Western Union slips, some are for US$100, $150, $200 and so that they received, and there were three barrels lined off in the house for these very people. These are the ones who deprive others who are really in need.”
He said on the other hand, there are several genuine instances of poverty and these heart-rending cases are the ones he is willing to work with to assist in providing a brighter tomorrow.
“Some of these people have the motivation to do things but are not equipped. As I find these genuine cases, my organization will empower them and teach them how to fish rather than handing out the fish to them. We do not want to work with dishonest people. We want persons who are actually in need and we will give whatever support we can to turn their situation around.”
Pandit Sugrim and his brother Dr. Ramesh Sugrim who is the President of the Local Chapter, along with other members, have been conducting interviews based on applications they received for this year.
Another observation, he said, was that there are family members who live like ‘crabs in a barrel’ and just cannot find peace with the fact that the Humanitarian Mission is helping others.
“We had this instance where we offered to build a house for a woman who is an invalid. She owns a house but it had fallen down. Her sister called me unknown to her and told me not to help her because she already owns a property. Instead, she bad-mouth her own sister and asked for the home to be built for her instead. This is what I call cutting her sister’s throat in front while stabbing her in the back. For that reason we walked away from that situation. We did not want to be caught up in a family feud but we were willing to spend US$6,000 to build the house.”
Pandit Sugrim said it is disturbing to find that there are young female school drop-outs who are not willing to help themselves and are satisfied with their present state.
“I met a 17-year old girl from a poor family who dropped out of school. She owns a Blackberry; now this is an expensive phone. I questioned her, I asked her how she got the Blackberry and she said a foreigner bought it for her after they had sex. These girls are not willing to empower themselves but are just contented selling their bodies. This is wrong, we have to teach our young ones the right things and protect them.”
He said his visit this year left him in tears when he saw the situation in which some persons reside.
“On Saturday I visited a home where a 73-year old woman lives. She is an invalid. She lives with a son who is an alcoholic and he does not provide for her the way he should. I had to burn her mattress immediately because it was infested with bugs and yet still she was lying on it. That’s poverty. We bought her a new mattress along with the necessary linen and so. Our members gave her a bath and generally tended to her hygiene.”
The New Jersey Arya Samaj Humanitarian Mission 2010 got started on July 19th in East Berbice. Dozens of persons were given grocery hampers and food and clothing vouchers. Presently, the team is working with eight families all with incapacitated persons. These include 15-year old Trinemcon Tracey Martin of Lot 46 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam who was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma; Nicola Blades, a 23-year old with a spinal tumor; 70-year old Kamlawattie Budhu of Portuguese Quarters, Port Mourant, who is bedridden after a stroke and 19-year old Shanti Dasratt of Whim Village who has been suffering from a defect since birth.
The Arya Samaj is gearing up for its Centennial celebration. Pandit Sugrim said that later this year, the Humanitarian Mission would commence skill-training sessions in the field of Information Technology, sewing, joinery, carpentry and masonry. Remedial classes would also be held. These classes are being done in collaboration with Food for the Poor.
The Mission is finalizing plans for the construction of a shelter for senior citizens and incapacitated persons. The land is at Ankerville behind the Port Mourant Vedic Mandir. The sod turning exercise should be held before August 15th.

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