‘…if standing for one hour in pain outside a big meeting for important people will get me help then I am prepared to do that. I want to live.’
Almost two years of dialysis and other medical expenses have exhausted the financial resources of Nalini Mohammed and left her desperately fighting to stay alive.
It was this desperation that prompted her and her husband of 14 years, Rasheed Mohammed, to stand in front of the Conference Centre at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara with placards which read “Save my wife” and “Jagdeo/CARICOM I will die within days, Can’t afford dialysis”.
The distressed couple told Stabroek News yesterday that they were prompted by a businessman to stand peacefully with their placards at the opening ceremony of 30th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government yesterday. This, they explained, seemed like a good way to get the attention of the government or anyone who could help.
The couple can be seen in this photo behind Mark Benschop making their appeal
The woman, her voice weak, said that the Ministry of Health had paid for 20 treatments last year but she has since been unable to get further help. According to an invoice from the 5G Dialysis Centre, Mohammed must receive dialysis three times a week. Each treatment, the invoice said, costs just over $36,000.
“We called the businessman for help and explained that we were at a standstill and weren’t getting any help… We need money for her treatment,” her husband explained.
He said they are going to wait and see what sort of reaction they will get from the appeal. He expressed hope that someone will help his wife since her life depends on steady treatment.
Mohammed was diagnosed in October 2007 with Chronic Kidney Disease [Chronic Glomerulonephritus] and End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). In November 2007 she was advised by medical practitioners that she needed dialysis to stay alive. Both of her kidneys are failing.
“The doctor told me that I would need dialysis treatment and asked me if I could afford it,” she recalled. “I told him that I gonna try because meh want to stay alive.”
Before her illness Mohammed was a seamstress and her husband was gainfully employed. However, pain and weakness has since limited her physical activities and her husband was forced to leave his job to care for her.
“We have no children and there is no one else to take care of me… sometimes I would fall down in the house and so,” Shivram said.
No donor & rest
Nalini Mohammed and her husband Rasheed
The woman has since been advised that she needs to find a kidney donor.
“I been trying for a while to get a donor but nobody ain’t want to help me live,” she said, tears glistening in her eyes. “My husband is willing to give me one of his kidney but if he does who going to take care of who?”
Mohammed explained that she and her husband have no one else to depend on so she is truly “in a fix”. She needs a donor by August when the doctors who are able to perform the surgery will be here.
“Sometimes I does get so confused… is like I don’t know what to do,” she said. “I get tired of asking people for help… is like I turn a beggar now.”
Pointing to her sink stacked with unwashed dishes, Mohammed said she wasn’t even able to do her own household chores. Simple tasks like washing, cooking and cleaning are no longer things she can do. Her husband, she said, does everything for her.
“If it wasn’t for him I don’t know what I woulda do,” she said. “I am sick but I have a wonderful husband and I know I am well loved by him.”
Shortly after she began her treatment, Mohammed explained, a Canadian woman helped her and her husband to open a small shop which Mohammed now operates. The woman, according to Mohammed, wanted them to have a steady source of income so that they would be able to pay their bills.
However, that income is not enough to cover the cost of her treatment and they are often forced to walk from house to house to ask for help. Several people have since contributed to her treatment, she said.
“I wake up about 5 in de morning and do the normal things then I get she something to eat,” the husband said.
As he spoke of their daily routine he fought for control of his emotions. But as he dealt with the fear of his wife dying, her pain and discomfort the tears began to flow. He said she has trouble sleeping.
“When we can’t pay for she treatment some weeks we does can’t sleep,” Rasheed Mohammed said. “We does wake up at all hours of the night and she does be crying and saying how she going to die.”
The man, looking at his wife for a long moment, said that the worst part of their “problem” is that he has what his wife needs to stay alive but circumstances are preventing him from giving it.
“I can give she one of me kidney but who we going to get to look after we when all two ah we in de hospital,” the distressed man queried.
The 36-year-old woman has trouble walking even short distances. Her entire body appears to be swollen and patches of discoloration were visible on her arms and legs yesterday. Sleep, the woman said, was perhaps the hardest task for her. Worry, although it clogs her mind all day, fiercely attacks her at night.
She said that if she ever regains her health and strength the first thing she will do is get a “good long rest.
“I could hardly walk on my swollen feet that day [Thursday],” she said. “But if standing for one hour in pain outside a big meeting for important people will get me help then I am prepared to do that. I want to live.”
Sorry we can’t help you Mr Mohammed, maybe if you were
a politician you would of never had to go through this.
You would have served yourself and the rest of humanity, BETTER if you had kept your mouth shut
Jagdeo boy u got ya hands full. Dem people gonna protest and protest and protest. till dem get wha dem want. wha happen to da Roger Khan case, da Waddell case, dem Lindo Creek miner, etc, etc. Rememba PEOPLE RUN THINGS THINGS NAH RUN DEM. PEOPLE POWER, POWER TO THE PEOPLE. SLO FIAH!! MO FIAH!!
Her husband said that the worst part of their “problem” is that he has what his wife needs to stay alive but circumstances are preventing him from giving it.” That is the best part of your problem…the worst part is that she will die if she does not get a transplant.
I told you overseas Guyanese days ago that you need to put your money where your mouths are. Donate money to Guyanese charities or start your own. There is no reason for people like Nalini and Rasheed to have to beg in front of foreigners for help. There is no reason for people like Varshnie Singh to go empty handed to foreign hospitals seeking treatment for poor Guyanese. Use the energy that you spend plotting revenge against Bajans to plot how to help law abiding citizens in Guyana who are in need. They too often are overlooked because of all of the attention focused on lawbreakers overseas. Don’t blame the government for this situation. The government helped her. Charity needs to kick in now. I am just saying…
I will be shocked if this story gets many more comments. This is not a bash Barbados headline so all those Guyanese living overseas will not care to do anything.
This is the time to organize and set up an account at a bank for this couple.
All the Guyanese who are living in Barbados, Antigua, Trinidad, Canada, America this is your chance to help your fellow citizens .
No only Guyanese living abroad,buy Caribbean people on the whole should contribute towards a worthy cause such as this. I am calling ob the Guyanese Consulate in Barbados to open an account at one of the banks here so that we all can make our contributions.
bajegal,
I think you realize it is more fun to bash and serve.
Correction:
I think you realize it is more fun to bash than to serve.
SN where’s the story on Benschop and the other protesters. Why the picture and no story. Hope your bais does not exclude others since you’re singular in intent on protesting Barbados immigration policy. You cannot cover a kidney story which in the background of Benschop’s protest and not tell us why Benschop and others were protesting. It doesn’t look right. Or you think the protest of Benschop and the other protestors are not important.Hope you care enough to look at what you are doing or the message you are sending.
Sorry about the kidney patient. Why did she have to go to Caricom meeting to get help. Where is the PPP, can’t they help her. Come on Jagdeo stop spending your energy cussing out Thompson and attend to basic matters like proper health care for the people. Be bullish here and show that you care.
first, they were prompted by a businessman..name of businessman please..unknown….
second,husband forced to leave his job to care for her….no report on job nor income from him.
third,she does fall down in the house and so..could have kept his job and pay for someone to take care of her….
fourth,her husband could give her one of his kidney but who will take care of who..give her one kidney and im sure the hospital will take care of you both until you both recover.
fifth,pointin to her sink with unwashed dishes and unable to do household chores…thought that is why the husband quit his job to take care of that for you…
i will not go any further but this story stinks and smells like politics as usual…..why choose this venue to protest one would ask…you should have done your protest in front of the ministry of health..no one saw you fall down and so..no one saw how confused you are as stated..you ent got energy to wash your dishes but you have tremendous energey to stand there and protest…all i will say is “WOW”.
People does get reserved energy when it’s needed, and then it goes down again, so she need de energy to protest so it was there, and then it goes back to sqare one so that’s how it works my friend.
Thanks for the reality check, (((:::))).
I could not have put it any better and sometimes I wonder what planet some of our fellow bloggers are on; because they seem to lack the ability to see past a tiny smokescreen to generate a laugh against all Guyanese.
This is not a LAST DITCH ATTEMPT BY THE HUSBAND. There will be more.
amen-ra
yea i know what you mean…
ever heard of de dead coming back to make a political statement den go back to being dead after????
SATISH::
If by now bloggers dont see what SN is all about then they will never….
No report on the two main protesters in Lewis and Benschop on why they were protesting….
Bring this Mohamed clown along with his picket sign….
then report a ghost businessman sent them there….
Like I said before and will say it again…
SN should go out and dig up more people like the Mohameds and bring their plight here for bloggers to bash govt…
SN can not go and bring a report where three young girls age 12-13 & 16 were having sex with a man called “Bull”.
But SN will find names like Mohameds or Lilouties and bring it to the fore…I dont think for one minute this blog will be printed…If you are fair and balance that is……
Where is the dr. ramsammy?
The woman has since been advised that she needs to find a kidney donor.“I been trying for a while to get a donor but nobody ain’t want to help me live,
I am terribly sorry to hear of this lady’s situation.But the best place to start looking for a kidney is not at the CARICOM summit but rather with close relatives as they present the best possibility of her getting a kidney that would be compatible.
Sad story but I am not to sure why they are seeking help at this summit. I just get this feeling that many Guyanese feel that foreigners are in a position to offer them help in every way. I hope that the government did not set this tone at in the country, “that it is ok to ask foreigners for help”. Come on Guyanese; try solving your own problems
SN/moderator/AXER ! I am shocked to know this is what u allowed to be among ur news ,, printed and published !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i , michael tannassee wish to PUBLICLY withdraw “anything” said or written by me ,, anywhere ,, anytime ,, relative to the protesters yesterday !… further i demand an apology from the editor and staff of STABROEK NEWS ! forthwith…..
get real banass.
MT
Im glad all is here to see what SN is all about::::::::
None news as far as im concerned……
but its designed by SN to milk something out of a nothing story…..and SN knows exactly which ethnicity to cover….you bet your life SN wont dare do this to the other ethnic group of people…..
Yuh darn right and I may follow soon….SN —this is sick to de core and your news media has become a nothing tabloid gossip…..