It has not been an easy journey for Sharlene Hinds since her daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia, or cancer of the blood, over a year ago.
It was a shock for the mother who learned that what was initially thought to be the Chikungunya Virus was in fact leukaemia. Her then two-year-old daughter Jada Johnson was diagnosed after symptoms of Chik-V.
And it has been both an emotional and financial battle for Hinds, a mother of four, Jada being the youngest at age three.
Hinds learned of her daughter’s illness last year after taking the child to the doctor to be treated for the then rapidly spreading Chikungunya Virus.
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“She had constant fever for about four weeks and each time I carry her to the doctor them say is Chikungunya,” Hinds recalled, after making frequent visits to the health centre wih her daughter. The mother said that she found it strange that her daughter was ill for so long and so decided to take her to the hospital.
The diagnosis was again Chikungunya, but the mother insisted that that could not be it. She said during the period, her daughter would cry and bite, an obvious sign of pain. She was sent to do a blood test at the hospital; then it was confirmed that something strange was happening to Jada.
“The doctor look at the test and say her blood abnormal and mi a say Lord Jesus a wa this now,” Hinds recalled of the day she received the bad news. After being admitted at the St Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital for several weeks, doctors recommended that Jada be taken to the University Hospital of the West Indies. A biopsy done by doctors at that institution confirmed the family’s worst fear — it was leukaemia.
Hinds was not willing to give up on her daughter and so she travels to Kingston frequently for the youngster to undergo chemotherapy. However, the expenses are proving to be overwhelming for the unemployed mother and her spouse.
“Mi really need help with her,” she said, explaining that the father of her eldest child who is now 15, had died, and it was her spouse, Jada’s father who takes care of the four children.
She said that her spouse works as a labourer and it is his salary which is used to send the children to school as well as to look after Jada’s treatment. However, the family is finding it difficult to cope with his meagre salary.
“She was at the University Hospital and I asked them to transfer her to Children’s (Bustamante Children’s Hospital) because I could not afford it,” Hinds said, revealing that she still owes the UHWI over $70,000 for treatment administered to her daughter.
“Mi really need the help,” a distressed Hinds repeated throughout the interview.
“Sometimes mi feel a way when mi daughter dem fi go school and mi can’t find the money to give them,” she said, adding that she often has to choose between taking Jada for treatment or sending the other children to school.
“Sometimes when the date come, not even the fare mi can’t find. If mi do find it, then the other children can’t go to school,” she explained.
Hinds said that the situation had got so bad that the family has been living without electricity for some time now because they are unable to pay their bills.
The situation even gets worse as the family now lives in a dilapidated structure, which she thinks may be helping to contribute to the illness of Jada and the other children.
She explained that young Jada, in addition to suffering from leukaemia, is also affected by asthma.
“Sometimes it get to mi head, mi nah tell no lie. At one point I though about killing myself, but then I say, who will take care of them,” Hinds stated. “Sometimes mi fell guilty because a me carry her come here, but mi have to be strong in myself,” she went on.
Hinds said that she tries to work, but it is not easy, since she has to travel frequently with her daughter into Kingston for treatment.
“Mi would work, but mi can’t really get no permanent job. Who want to employ me when every minute mi have to leave work,” she said.
In addition to that, Jada is unable to go to school and so she has to take care of her.
“The doctors say I must not send her to school because of her weak immune system,” she said.
Hinds also explained that it is difficult to take Jada everywhere because she is unable to walk for extended periods and so has to be carried constantly.
“When she walk she say she feeling pain,” she said.
Hinds is hoping for the best for her daughter. She told the Jamaica Observer that she is now awaiting the result of a biopsy done recently.
The mother is hopeful because her daughter has made significant improvement since she was diagnosed with the disease.
She said that Jada was extremely weak, unable to walk and very skinny when she started treatment but has since improved.
“Them bring her back a far way at Children’s (Hospital),” she said.
The mother is appealing to Jamaica to assist her family.
“A just hand to mouth we a live. It expensive; sometimes mi can’t find nothing,” she said.
(Hinds and daughter)
Sharlene Hinds and her daughter Jada.
(old house)
A section of the dilapidated house shared by Hinds and her family.
(PHOTOS: RENAE DIXON)
How do we contact her met?
Can a giving page be set up online so people can donate? Poor little girl, sickness when you are poor is no joke.