The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

A DISTRAUGHT mother struggling to come up with funds to pay off her disabled son’s physical rehabilitation fees has made an emotional plea to the public for financial assistance.

Jacqueline Ford is the mother of 22-year-old Renaldo Gibson who was paralysed from the waist down after a car accident five years ago.

Her son’s medical bills are more than $100,000, leaving her with no choice but to plead for help.

“Right now money is due to go over, and I don’t have the first dollar,” Mrs Ford said in tears. “I’m on leave from work, and it’s only my husband, and everything seems to be piling up.

“I am crying out for help again to assist with his care because I’m not working and I need to keep our bills going. Everything is just backing up. It isn’t just a physical struggle, it’s a mental struggle for me, especially with him being my only child. I’m at home caring for my son because I don’t think anyone can care for him like I do. I need financial assistance.”

In 2009, a then 16-year-old Renaldo was the victim of a horrific car crash on Prince Charles Drive. The force of the collision propelled him out of his mother’s vehicle and onto the pavement, paralysing him from the waist down.

While in the process of taking her son to school, Ms Ford said traffic had stopped which gave her the chance to enter the Doris Johnson High School’s gate. She said she noticed a car coming from the west, but due to the distance she assumed she had sufficient time to get to the gate.

She said she didn’t realise just how fast the car was going until the car slammed into her vehicle.

Ms Ford said upon impact, her head struck the steering wheel of the car, causing her to black out. She said when she regained consciousness and didn’t see her son in the car, she managed to crawl to the passenger side of the vehicle to look outside. She said she saw her son lying on the ground not too far from the crash.

After local doctors informed her that her son would forever require the assistance of a ventilator, Ms Ford said she decided to fly him to the Orlando Regional Medical Centre in 2012. There he stayed for three months, and shortly after his 20th birthday, Mr Gibson breathed without the assistance of a ventilator for the first time.

From September 2012 to this year, Mrs Ford took care of her son at home, as she said therapy costs were too expensive for her to afford. Unfortunately, additional complications from his injuries arose and Mr Gibson found himself back in hospital on September 17.

Mrs Ford said a CT scan showed her son had kidney stones that required immediate removal. She said her son was also having a lot of “mucous secretions” around his throat area that required doctor’s to replace his existing trachea with a new one.

According to Ms Ford, the day he was admitted to the ward was her son’s birthday, and he was expecting to be home and away from the hospital.

“He wasn’t expecting to be in hospital this long,” she said. “It’s like every time he is so close, he gets knocked right back down. It’s heartbreaking, a young man knocked down just like that in the prime of life. He can’t walk as yet, but I’m still believing that he will walk someday because he is positive and determined.”

Mrs Ford said she is in the process of planning another fundraiser to assist with the payment of her son’s medical expenses. As for Renaldo, despite a tumultuous last five years, he still remains optimistic and lively about his recovery.

“I’m still here holding the faith,” he told The Tribune by phone, speaking from the Princess Margaret Hospital. “If you can assist me, it would be greatly appreciated.”

Before the accident, Renaldo was actively involved in a number of youth organisations connected with his church and school. He was a member of the youth choir and an usher at his church.

Anyone who wants to lend support or offer donations can contact Ms Ford at 468-2195. Additionally, they can make donations to her and her son’s medical fund account at the Bank of the Bahamas, account number 5510031764.