– mom was shot dead years ago in DV incident
Diagnosed with bone cancer several months ago which later resulted in her left arm being amputated, 13-year-old Shakiva Clements has faced more hardship than many adults yet she has learned to be grateful for each day and says she would not give up on life.
This was not always her outlook; Shakiva has had her share of grim days. Her grandmother, Marva Clements, has been there for her whenever she felt it was just too much. But her positivity is admirable for one so young; she has a ready smile and can even laugh at herself.
Because of the amputation she believes her dream of one day becoming a doctor has been dashed since she cannot imagine a “one hand doctor.” But she has already decided on a second career choice, a counsellor. For now, she and her grandmother are hoping that she can one day soon acquire a prosthetic arm.
When this reporter sat down with the Tutorial High School student recently, she became teary-eyed during parts of the interview. But in general, Shakiva spoke of her life experiences in a matter-of-fact manner and seemed very mature for her age. In fact she appears to be headed down the road to her second career choice as for her the everyday problems of her fellow classmates matter, and she spoke about the many times she has sat and listened to them.
“They would come to me and tell me about their problems and I would talk to them and advise them and sometimes if I can’t help I would tell them to talk to a teacher,” she told the Sunday Stabroek recently.
The cancer diagnosis, though heartrending is just one of the traumas Shakiva has had to live through. Apart from having her arm amputated, Shakiva also lost her beautiful hair (which she described as being long and curly) as a result of chemotherapy and she now wears a wig. But long before those devastating experiences, shelost her mother at the tender age of three.
Shakiva’s mother, Sophia Matthews was shot in the head on July 26, 2005 by her reputed husband. The man, Brian McCollin, then turned the gun on himself committing suicide. It was later reported that Matthews had fled their Timehri home because of physical abuse and was at a relative’s home in the city. McCollin had followed her and after trying without success to talk her into going back home, shot her. Matthews was hospitalized, but died on August 5.
Shakiva has been living with her grandmother, whom she described as her rock, since her mother died.
It was back in February that Shakiva was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, the most well-known type of bone cancer. According to her grandmother prior to being diagnosed there was no sign that the child had cancer and it was only discovered after Shakiva injured her arm.
Shakiva and her grandmother live alone and she related to the Sunday Stabroek that she got home one afternoon and realised that she did not have her keys. She was forced to jump over the fence to enter the yard, but fell resulting in her arm being fractured. The arm was placed in a cast but after this was removed she continued to experience severe pain. Several hospital visits later, she received the devastating news that she had a tumour.
“They said the tumour was there [before] but like the fracture showed it up and they asked if she use to feel pain but she was never in pain before the fall,” her grandmother interjected.
Scared
Shakiva recalled that she was very scared when she was told about the tumour more so when, “They told me I had to do a biopsy and I could bleed to death and at first I told them I rather take the pain than do it. But I had church family and everybody was praying for me so I felt more at ease and I did it.”
As they waited for the results of biopsy Shakiva’s arm began to swell. Eventually it had swollen to such a size and she could no longer lift it and the pain was unbearable. She was warned that the arm might have been amputated. At one point, the pain was so terrible that she begged for the arm to be removed. Because of the pain she was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) for weeks before the surgery.
“I couldn’t sleep. I just keep crying out for pain,” Shakiva recalled and her grandmother added that the hospital administered the drug morphine. Even so, one day at 2 am she called her grandmother from the hospital and told her she could take the pain no longer and she wanted to die.
“I had to talk to her for hours… We prayed. I know she was in so much pain and I could really do nothing to help her,” the grandmother said sadly.
One day after they received the results of the biopsy, Shakiva’s arm was amputated. The date was May 16, 2015, the same day David Granger was sworn in as President of Guyana, the grandmother added.
Even though she was told that her arm would be amputated and she had begged for this to be done at one stage, Shakiva said it was only after she left the hospital that it hit home that her left arm was gone.
“I was standing in front the mirror and is then, you know, I see I don’t have my left arm and I start to cry because if anyone had told me that would have happened I would not have believed them,” she said.
No counselling
For her grandmother, the entire experience was “very, very terrible and devastating.” But what bothered her was the fact that no counselling was provided for her granddaughter before or after the surgery.
Marva Clements said she is extremely grateful for the support received from the North Ruimveldt Nazarene Church family. “The church family—she has a mother and father at the church—they were all very, very supportive… That is where she got the support from,” Clements stated.
The grandmother recalled that her granddaughter was discharged three days after the surgery, while she was still very distraught. Even though “She kind of tried… it was hard because for 13 years she had her arm and then to wake up and there is no arm,” Clements said.
Sometime after she was discharged, Shakiva had a breakdown and her grandmother believes that it might not have happened if she had been counselled.
“I was in the kitchen and she was in front of the mirror and I don’t know what it was but she stripped off all of her clothes and she came and start screaming and jumping around and saying ‘Granny look wah you all do to me! How I guh face the world? Granny I didn’t do anything to deserve this!’”
Clements said that was one of her most heartbreaking experiences, as at that point she was unsure how to help her grandchild.
“It was really terrible, I used to cry but not let her see…,” she recalled sadly.
The students and teachers of Tutorial High School have been very supportive and Shakiva singled out for special mention, Miss Munroe, who took time from her busy schedule to visit Shakiva. Her classmates also visited her in the hospital.
Shakiva is a member of the Girl Guides at the school and Clements recalled that the week before this new school term began Miss Munroe and some students spent the entire weekend with Shakiva and that was of great comfort to her.
Because of her hospitalization and recovery, Shakiva had not attended school for more than a term and when the new school year started she admitted that she was scared as she was unsure of how she would have been accepted.
“But thank God when I went back to school, I only had one problem with someone and they did come and apologise and everything and after that I just keep on feeling normal in the class doing everything normal,” Shakiva said.
She said she would only cry after being told “something bad.”
On the first day of school she was greeted in the yard by the headmistress and teachers and even one of the vendors outside the school gate hugged her and gave her some comforting words.
Shakiva has had three sessions of chemotherapy which resulted in her losing her hair. This was another traumatizing experience, but one that she has since overcome and now she is loving her wigs.
“I didn’t expect the hair to drop out so quickly. I went to church camp and I was combing my hair and it just start coming out and all the hair corners just went. So when I came home I just became a barber and cut it off and then cried,” she recalled.
Her grandmother said she should have started her fourth session of chemo, but because her blood count was low it has not commenced.
“It is very painful,” Shakiva said of the chemo and she grimaced as she spoke.
Shakiva has three more chemotherapy sessions and her grandmother hopes they could be completed before the end of the year.
And while they were told that the amputation would have gotten rid of all the cancerous cells, a swelling has now developed on her shoulder and a biopsy will have to be done as the swollen area is also painful at times.
