–after horrific road accident in Trinidad
FOUR years after being involved in a horrific road accident on Longdenville Old Road, in Trinidad, 33-year-old Yadram Persaud remains bedridden on a hospital bed.
On December 22, 2010, Persaud, a tint and graphic artist, then 29, was travelling in a motor vehicle, when the driver, a ‘Trini’ friend of his, lost control of the vehicle, causing it to flip over a bridge.
Though the driver sustained a broken arm, he managed to exit the vehicle. The badly injured Persaud was not so lucky, as he was unable to free himself. Thankfully, he was rescued moments later by paramedics on an ambulance and taken to the Mount Hope Hospital and later transferred to St. James Hospital.
On arrival at the hospital, tests and scans indicated that Persaud had suffered a fractured neck, injuries to his lungs, a broken spinal column, broken ribs, a broken collar bone and a broken hand. Eight screws and six rods had to be implanted in his back and today he remains paralysed in the lower region of his body, and experiences excruciating pains where the screws and rods were implanted and has no sensation in the lower region.
After spending about 21 days in the Intensive Care Unit at St. James hospital in Trinidad, he was transferred to the open ward where he spent another 14 days before he was discharged.
Three months later, in February 2011, he returned home to Guyana and has since been taken care of by his elderly parents, and an elder brother at Canje, Berbice. But, over time, his condition began acting up and he saw the need for further intervention by a medical doctor and so he visited the Georgetown Hospital last week and was admitted.
Relatives, who have been providing for their maimed and disfigured loved one over the last four years, are agonised and grieving quietly over the way he is suffering. Meanwhile, all his hopes and dreams of advancing socio-economically have been shattered. From being a thriving and popular tint and graphic artist, now he can no longer work, as he is confined to bed.
Moreover, he is less likely to get married, and therefore faces greater solitude as his parents continue to age.
In the meantime, Persaud’s relatives must face the ever-increasing expenses of travelling daily from Canje, Berbice to Georgetown and back to visit him in hospital, as well as provide for his personal needs. However, they are running thin on resources.
Persaud is now considering taking legal action against the driver of the vehicle who drove dangerously, causing him grievious bodily harm, then abandoning him in the car without trying to render assistance.
(By Shirley Thomas)