Leelkumarie Mangal spends most of her days in a hammock hung outside her small Lusignan home contemplating life and death.
Her only son, Munesh, who in 2008 became the first Guyanese to have kidney transplant surgery in the country, died last year after he developed an infection while still recovering.
Leelkumarie, 37, had been his donor. And it was her donation of a kidney to save her son’s life that has placed restrictions on her own life. She suffered a relapse after the operation, spent a long time recuperating and is now a pale shadow of her former self.
When Stabroek News visited her at home, Leelkumarie was tearful. She said she had only moments before been thinking about her son. His passing, she explained, has had a severe impact on her life since she was a single parent and the two had lived alone.
Munesh, who was 18 when he underwent the surgery, had suffered for 11 years as a result of his defective kidneys. After the surgery, he appeared to have been recovering as he should and was required to visit the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) twice every week to uplift his medication. This, Munesh had told Stabroek News back then, was not a bother to him as he would happily ingest 100 pills to remain healthy. The young man even served as his mother’s strength when she suffered her relapse and was required to return to the hospital where she remained a patient for some time. During this period, Leelkumarie’s son took her meals and visited her daily.
However, some time after his operation, Munesh got a job with the Neighbourhood Democratic Council in the area and worked as a garbage collector, his mother recalled. It was as a result of such close contact with waste that Munesh developed an infection, she said.
Recounting the ordeal leading up to the death of her only son, Leelkumarie stressed that knowing that he was frail she constantly warned him about taking care of his health.
She said that on one occasion he went came home from work and she noticed that his face was swollen. Upon further checks, she observed that his hands, feet and other parts of his body were also swollen, and she believed that it was possibly from water retention associated with kidney failure.
Concerned, she asked her son to accompany her to the GPH to undergo a doctor’s examination. He did not comply until he felt worse the following day.
At the hospital, doctors explained that he would be required to be transferred to the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital, since he needed emergency dialysis along with x-ray examinations that the GPH could not facilitate at the time.
“Me wait… I sit down on the chair waiting and they say he can’t make it. Me go talk to him and I ask he son, you okay? And he say ‘no mom,’” Leelkumarie said as she broke into tears.
Later that night, at around 10.30 pm, Munesh had to be taken in for emergency surgery and asked her if she was willing to wait until he returned to his hospital room.
“They carry him into theatre and when they bring he back, me say ‘Baby, you okay?’ And he say ‘yes mommy, but mommy me nah gon live ya know,’” Leelkumarie added.
A few minutes later, Munesh bid his final goodbye to his mother, hugged her and subsequently died.
Leelkumarie explained that her son had not taken his medication for one month and as a result he became even more susceptible to viruses, which were even more a threat given his work.
These days, Leelkumarie is unable to work since she cannot exert herself too much. Prior to her surgery, Leelkumarie said, she used to “hustle lil domestic work” but she is now too weak to do so.
“Whosoever give me a lil something, that is how I get by,” the woman said. When asked how she will be spending the holidays, the still grieving woman responded, “Well, to be honest, ah can’t say I got Christmas or any holiday.”
