Christmas had always meant being among loved ones and having a good time for 33-year-old Gubraj Durjan, but this year he would be spending it all alone.
The Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice resident lost his ability to walk following an accident in July 2012. He is also unable to earn and has been struggling to make ends meet.
He underwent a few surgeries to correct his condition and is waiting patiently to be back on his feet again. The last surgery was done in April.
After he was discharged from hospital one month later, he started living with his sick father who has since passed away.
Money from his father’s pension was “pinched” to care for both of them and after his father’s death he was left to fend for himself.
His mother, a resident of the USA returned to help care for his father and she spent a few more months assisting Durjan. Sadly when she returned to the USA she lost her job and cannot support him now.
The former cane-harvester and part-time mason told this newspaper that he is “surviving by the grace of God.” He is grateful that kind-hearted church members and some of his former colleagues would help him financially.
But the money is barely enough for basic items. He cannot afford to purchase anything special to cook for Christmas and said it would be “like any ordinary day.” A Christian, Durjan said “the only thing I plan to do that day is pray.”
The man said he applied for public assistance and was called for an interview in September and was told that he would start receiving it one month later. But that was not the case.
Durjan said he has no one to take care of him and has to cook and do other chores. He moves around in a wheelchair and sometimes some of the young boys in the area would take him to do his shopping.
When he suffered the accident he was living at the home of a former female partner at Cotton Tree and he was thankful that “she helped me out a lot.”
He related that his last surgery involved “grafting a part of my hip bone and placing it on my foot.” He started going to a clinic in Georgetown from this month and has to find money for a taxi every time. Luckily, the taxi driver “does flex with me.”
Recounting the accident, he said he “watched both sides of the road and saw a car a good distance away and decided to cross.”
The speeding car struck him and he sustained a broken left foot and his right hand has been left partially paralyzed.
He was going to visit his sick father but he never made it and was rushed instead to the Fort Wellington Hospital in an unconscious state.
He was then referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) where he spent five weeks and underwent his first two surgeries. His shin bone was badly crushed and doctors inserted a “screw and plate.” He also spent a few weeks at the New Amsterdam Hospital. The driver of the car was arrested and placed before the Fort Wellington Court but the case was dismissed and Durjan feels that justice was denied.
He lamented that he spent a lot of money to undergo tests and treatment and on transportation but was never compensated. (Shabna Ullah)
