HELP HELP..FOR THIS YOUNG MAN

STRUCK by tragedy six years ago, Andre Campbell seeks help in attaining his dream and living the fulfilled life he always planned.

Campbell, who was shot in 2009 has been paralysed since the incident but is determined to get back on his feet and continue his life as he had planned.

“I was coming home [and] I ran into two other friends and I stopped there (at the foot of Pear Hill, St Andrew) and we chat like we normally do… and I remember three guys ran passed us and asked if we had credit, and my other brethren that was there said no and about 10 minutes after another guy came off the hill and just ask ‘waunu fa’ and just start fire shot,” he told the Jamaica Observer as he relived the experience.

“After the fact, we found out that it was related to some other issues that took place. The guy that shot us, he came and killed two other persons the same night, and when he was making his escape apparently he saw the three guys that ran past us. And when he was coming off the hill, he saw three of us at the entrance of the road and I guess he was thinking that we were the three that saw him and I’m assuming that he thought we would have taken action,” he continued. “It was just me and my other friend who got shot but my case was worse.”

Campbell, now 30, was shot twice — once in his side and his head. The crippling shot he said entered through his side, tore through his intestines, hit the 11th vertebra in the backbone, and broke it in two causing a fragmented piece to fall in the gut while the other piece lodged in the right side of the same vertebra.

“The other one entered here (at the base of the neck) and exited right here (behind right ear) and this shot didn’t do any damage. I really have to give thanks, because this one didn’t do any damage and this one went right across (the head),” he told the Sunday Observer as he pointed to the scars.

The life-altering incident forced Campbell — then a fourth-year student at the University of Technology Jamaica (Utech) — to pull out of school to tend to his health and adapt and cope with the struggles ahead.

He said the injury has affected him in many ways, highlighting that upon being released from the hospital, his grandmother was admitted and died shortly after. The autopsy he said revealed that she had a recent unnoticed heart attack, which he speculates was aggravated on the night of his incident.

“The last time I saw her was on the day that I got shot. She made dinner,” he said. “I can remember speaking to her while I was at the hospital, she didn’t come to see me, though, because, I mean, I grew up in her hands, basically, and I just couldn’t bear for her to come see me in the hospital,” he continued, highlighting that his grandfather died the year before.

“I’ve had terrible days … days I just stay in bed for three days, just don’t have no care, no interest, just feel hopeless,” he lamented, “At times I’m down. if it wasn’t for this injury I would be further in my career, or probably I would have achieved more at this stage in my life.”

Having had a rough two years, Campbell decided to resume his studies and was motivated even more to have nothing deter him from achieving his goals.

“I found the courage, used my last funds and paid for first semester tuition not knowing where second semester would come from, but I heard about a scholarship given to students with disabilities and stuff and applied for that and some grants and that paid for second semester school fee,” he told the Sunday Observer.

The ardent student, upon returning, received an award that year for best academic performance — for which he was grateful. In 2013 he completed is Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management and was ready to apply his knowledge and contribute to nation building, but not without its challenges.

“It’s very difficult finding a job in the field now. I mean the sector is somewhat on the down, as well as I still question how receptive Jamaicans are to people with disabilities,” he said.

“I did a couple interviews, I haven’t really received any positive response but I still don’t give up, I’m still trying, I send out résumés and stuff like that. I’m still hopeful that I will make some strides in the field,” he continued.

In keeping with his determination to make strides in his field, Campbell hopes to receive corrective treatment in Cuba by early next year at the International Centre of Neurological restoration (CIREN).

“I’ve seen improvement from then until now, I have minimal motor and partial sensations in my leg so I think there is some sort of hope there,” he said.

“I am often asked ‘will you walk again’ and ‘are you sure the Cuba physiotherapy programme will help you to walk again?. While that is my ultimate goal, one has to take a holistic rehabilitation approach for this to be achieved, so it is imperative that the physiotherapy programme of choice should focus both on the mind and the physical development of the patient. I am particularly interested in going to the International Centre of Neurological Restoration in Cuba because they have a comprehensive neurological restoration programme that is technologically advanced and is rated as the best in the region,” he stated.

The treatment, according to Campbell, will total CAD$15,000, roughly J$1.4 million. The breakdown, according to a letter addressed to Campbell from the health institution, includes “accommodation and meals, evaluation, diagnostic confirmation, definition of therapeutic possibilities, all the necessary, meals, medical attention, transfer in/out.”

“The breakdown would be $7,000 for treatment, $5,000 for room and board and I think the balance that takes it up to $15,000 is some tax, I think it’s some travel tax and insurance and stuff like that, so it would be $15,000 Canadian so about $1.4 million Jamaican so I’m trying my very best to meet that target,” he said.

With this vision in mind, and a target to meet, he has initiated some fund-raising ventures, which he said have not all been as lucrative as he hoped they would be.

“I have been trying to raise funds from last year. Doing online fundraisers, first I did a GoFundMe but I had some issues with that about couple weeks after because I mentioned Cuba in the GoFundMe, information section and at that time America didn’t have a relationship with Cuba, so PayPal blocked my account so that kinda throw off the whole fund-raiser because it was going pretty good,” he said.

“I have a GoFundMe up and running again, I have a non-tax bank account and I did a fund-raiser last month. The name was friends-the benefit edition, that was held close by the primary school out here. It was just a party. It was good, I didn’t really make a profit, but I’m glad for the support, I’m grateful,” he continued.

He hopes to host another fund-raising event in January and is seeking additional help from willing parties to advance his move to walk again. To contribute to Campbell’s road to recovery, persons may use the GoFundMe account link: https://www.gofundme.com/wy7238 or directly contribute to the Bank of Nova Scotia, Constant Spring branch, account number 46342.