Richard Fresco, 27, of Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam has remained bedridden after damaging his spine in an accident eight months ago and his biggest wish for Christmas is to be able to walk again.
He always looked forward to the season and although he is sad that there would be no Christmas for him this year he told Stabroek News in an interview recently “what ah gon do; ah just have to bear me chafe.”
Richard lives in a dilapidated shack with his mother, Virginia Giddings, 66, whom he was taking care of along with his nieces and nephew, ages three, seven and 10-years-old after their mother [his sister] died.
His mother, a pensioner now has to take care of him “like a baby” and they are surviving on whatever help they get from persons. To make matters worse she has only received two months pension for this year.
When this newspaper visited her home she had gone “to look after her pension book,” her daughter, Sarah Giddings who lives in a shack in the yard, said.
At the time of the accident, Richard, who was employed at a saw-mill in NA as a labourer for almost one year, was off-loading lumber from a truck while standing at the side when he slipped and fell.
Sarah told this newspaper that when she heard that her brother fell from the truck she did not realize he was so badly hurt. “When I hear that he might not be able to walk again I started to cry.”
She said because of all of the expense they had to incur she went to the employers for money and was given $12,000. One of the employers “told me that my brother was hungry and breeze threw him off the truck.”
After that money ran out her mother returned for more but this time the employer wrote “a paper” to go to the National Insurance Scheme.
However she was told that her son did not qualify for benefits.
Although Richard is longing to get back on his feet again he is thankful that he is still alive. “When I fall I call on de Father because only He can help me. If it wasn’t for him I woulda been dead.”
He continues to “pray to get better. I want a chance to walk again and I trust in God and I know he would help me to walk sometime.”
Richard has also regretted that he was not able to fulfill his dreams of improving his life and providing his mother with a better house.
The current abode is run-down and appears to be falling apart and he was planning to “work and save some money to fix it.”
The only access to their home is through a narrow drain, situated between two old fences and lined with pieces of shaky boards. As this reporter made her way to the house she had to be told constantly to “watch where you walking before you fall in [the drain].”
Thankfully, I made it safely and his curious nieces and nephew who were playing in the yard ran to open the gate, made from pieces of old zinc sheets and boards, to let me in.
I conducted the interview with Richard through an open window while standing in the yard as there was no accommodation in the house. Close to his head on the bed was his radio which he has as company and listens to every day.
Richard recalled that after he fell from the truck he was unable to move his hands and feet and he shouted for the other workers. They ran to his assistance and lifted him to a taxi which rushed him to the NA Hospital. X-rays proved that he had damaged his spine and also suffered a fractured neck.
He was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) where doctors had to install steel in his neck during a surgery. He spent about four months at that institution and then two months at NA Hospital before being sent home.
Richard has to visit the hospital twice weekly for check-ups and a cousin would lift him out to the taxi which his mother barely scrapes up money to pay for.
Fed up with being in bed all the time, Fresco said his mother tried to put him in a wheelchair on two occasions but he started “seeing dark”and had to return to the bed.
The doctor later discovered that Richard was badly anaemic and he was readmitted to the hospital for one month.
He underwent therapy and is barely able to move his limbs but he is still afraid to go back in the wheelchair. He has remained bedridden and due to that he is experiencing severe “back pain and my skin burning.”
Richard’s difficulty in life did not start there. He told this newspaper that he “punished a lot while growing up.” He said “while people were in homes” he was living on the street with his mother and three of his four siblings.
His mother nevertheless ensured that they attended school with help from residents. At nights they rested their heads under a church and he recalled that they “got up early and bathe at a pipe in the yard.”
When he was 11-years-old, an older brother shared a piece of land with them that he had acquired and they knocked up the shack which still remains in the same way.
Forcing a smile, Richard reminisced that he had enjoyed the last Christmas season and had gone out with his friends.
This year he is not even seeing his friends and in fact, even his colleagues who helped him after he fell have not even visited him. He is confident though, that one day everything would change and he would see brighter Christmases.
Anyone interested in helping Richard and his family can contact his mother Virginia Giddings at 650-0672.
