After a horrific accident, being in a coma for approximately three weeks and suffering memory loss for a short while, 21-year-old Floretta Spooner of Coldingen, East Coast Demerara is on a journey to inspire others with her story while also developing her new business in the natural remedy field.
According to Spooner, her life was placed on pause following an incident in the wee hours of August 17, 2019, as she was heading home from a night out with a group of friends.
It was around 4 am, she related, “… The rain was pouring and three of us fell asleep in the car, while travelling. The vehicle ended up under a container that was parked alongside the road and I flew from the backseat to the front and under the deck of the car and I was rushed to the hospital. There I spent three weeks in a coma but they sent me home in the last week, which means I spent two weeks in the hospital and one week at home and I was also treated at home.
“When I woke up the doctors said that I have severe brain and nerve damage and that I was paralysed from my left and that I had inflammation in my body, blood shots in my brain, stones in my stomach which could later lead to tumour if not treated. My gulp was also messed up so due to that I had to eat a certain diet. They also said that I sustained several other severe damages to my body as it relates to my health. I didn’t really use medications because I had started to look up on all-natural ingredients to help my diet and I tried my best to eat healthy.”
Beauty remedies
products
that Spooner currently sells
Spooner described the next two months, one of which she spent bedridden and the other trying to stand up and walk, as “pretty hard”. During that time, her brain was completely blank which made her feel as though she was a burden. She said that that feeling prompted her to start doing things on her own despite the pain that she was in.
She added, “I went to therapy because I couldn’t have stood up or anything. I was strictly
on the bed and I said ‘you know what I can’t take this’ and I just tried to stand up on my own which was very hard but I’m strong so I tried to stand up, many times I fell. I stand up again, fell, stand up again and that’s what went on for a while. … When I went to the therapist they told my family to not let that happen again because if at any time I fall I can go into a coma once more… So I stopped going to therapy and I started to do therapy at home and my family would hold my hands while I walk around the living room or walk to my closest friends or family member who lives right next to me.”
The young woman said she remains grateful for the support she received from some of her family, a few friends and even strangers. It was during her recovery, also, that she realised the true meaning of love since many persons who she was in association with prior to her accident deserted her.
“Three months later I went back to work. I used to work as a cashier, so when I started back working persons used to hold my hands and cross me over the road, put me in a bus and that stuff, and my family used to come out on the road and collect me… A day I decided that I wanted to walk and go to the park, which I did and I held onto each and every building on every corner that I reach and I even asked persons to hold my hands and that was how I gradually recovered,” she said.
Vision
Covid-19 put an end to her job and in 2021 when things began to reopen, she was denied work, discriminated against because of her obvious injuries. However, she said, every disappointment drove her to build a stronger and better relationship with her faith.
“In 2021, I had a vision where I saw a light come to me. It was so bright. It was in the middle of the night and I wanted to know what it was, so I started fasting and praying more so that the vision could be clearly related to me, and it was like if it was sending me into pageantry. I started to apply to various places thinking that the vision was based on the normal and local modelling, but really it was more, which involved the wearing of heels and basically being involved in a regional pageant,” she said.
When she related the vision to other people, they discouraged her, which led to her questioning her capability. However, in her mind, she was passionate to proceed with the vision.
“I couldn’t have walked properly, much less walk in heels… My family and some of my friends said that I was crazy and that God didn’t tell me to do so… but my faith is real beyond and I
went after and sought it because when something is on your heart and you’re passionate about it then that is something that you need to fulfil,” she added.
Spooner applied at different model agencies with no luck and the financial struggle she was going through caused her to lose a little confidence in her vision. Then one day when she received an invitation to attend a meeting for a pageant. “It was Elite Pageant Company that was hosting it and I had no idea or knowledge of it…,” she said. “I went and I still couldn’t walk in heels but during the journey my director and the other contestants supported me and encouraged me until… I finally walked in those fine heels and I was so happy. Pageantry did help me to get back my confidence and also to get back my balance and I started attending the gym where I also received help.”
She was later crowned Miss Empress Guyana 2022.
Business
“After recovering I used to be with my mom at her stall and I had gotten pretty dark and based on the vision, I had also started to look up natural remedies on how to get rid of dark marks,” she recalled… So I started to do some work and I made some skin scrubs…, I eventually promoted my products and sold them and persons started to reach out to me and tell me of their results as well.”
Even though her business has not been flourishing as she would like, she is still grateful. It has since been approved by the necessary authorities to be sold on the local market.
The young woman said that she still finds it difficult sometimes as she would experience pain from time to time. “It is still hard… I’m not fully healed as yet… I cannot run or jump as yet but I am grateful for the strength and balance that God has given to me so far. As I am more confident in myself right now I don’t mind if I have to be like this for the rest of my life because the main thing is I have breath, life, health and strength which is only because of God,” she said.
“My advice to others who are in similar positions or something different is to be strong and always have hope. Believe and pray because there is nothing impossible. God should be the first priority in their life and although they might feel as though they’re not worth it, they should continue to try and be persistent in their goals, vision, dreams and they should never give up because there is no reward for giving up. People’s opinion of you doesn’t define you; only you could define you, and that it’s okay to be different and walk your own path.”
Anyone interested in Spooner’s Natural Beauty Products can contact her on telephone number 633-6475.
