Wayne Smith needs a hand
FRIDAY the 13th of October, 2000. The date is indelibly imprinted in Wayne Smith’s mind. For that was the day his life changed — for the worse.
In a matter of just a few seconds Smith lost the use of his left hand in a nasty bus spill on a busy Kingston street.
The impact that caused the bus to overturn resulted in him suffering a concussion and eventual loss of consciousness. When he came to shortly afterwards, the extent of his injury shattered him. For he could see right through the gaping hole in his palm, as the skin and bones were torn off completely while the bus skidded along Old Hope Road with his hand trapped between the vehicle and the asphalt.
Smith’s medical report from the University Hospital of the West Indies where he was admitted, said he “had loss of the extensor tendons to the wrist and fingers. X-rays showed fractures of the carpal and metacarpal bones, with loss of bones from the first metacarpal”.
The report, signed by Rory Dixon, chief orthopaedic resident, also said that 19 days after the accident, Smith had plastic surgery “to provide flap coverage”.
Smith explained the procedure: “What they did was to cut my left side, at my waist, and put my hand in there for a month to let the flesh grow.” It was almost as if he had his hand in his pocket.
While the surgery saved his hand, it has led to a complication that is depriving Smith, 32, of making a living. For, the skin has started to swell and now looks like a dome. He, therefore, needs to have reconstructive surgery to replace the bones and tendons.
The cost?
US$65,000; and the treatment is available only in the United States, doctors told him.
For the past 20 months, Smith, who lives in Delacree Park in Kingston, has been trying to land a job in order to care for his three children and save towards the surgery. He hasn’t had any luck.
“Everywhere I go to get a job, I’m told I can’t be employed because I’m sick,” he told the Sunday Observer. “It’s really tough on me now,” he said, “because my mother, who used to help me, is now sick and hospitalised, so I need to be able to assist her.”
Unable to disguise his anxiety to resume working, Smith acknowledged that though times are hard and a lot of companies are not employing new people, he was confident that he could get work.
“I have five skills,” he explained. “I am a trained architect, a technician, I can do tiling and plumbing and I am skilled at making craft items.
“If only I can get my hand fixed, I could get a job or start back my business,” he sighed, with an air of resignation.
He spoke of the furniture repair and manufacturing company he opened on Old Hope Road in December 1997 and how the business had started picking up the following year.
Since the accident, though, in addition to closing the firm, he’s had to sell three of the five machines he owned to pay medical bills that, he said, have so far totalled at least $200,000.
Smith’s appeal for financial help has so far been answered by National Commercial Bank (NCB), PowerTrac and the Jamaica Teachers Association Credit Union, which have donated money towards his surgery.
Those monies, he said, have been placed in an account opened by the Delacree Park Citizens’ Association at the Hagley Park branch of NCB in Kingston.
A letter from the association states: “The account is in the name of ‘Delacree Park Citizens’ Association for Wayne Smith’ and the number is 174023891. Any assistance you can give this ambitious young man would be greatly appreciated by the residents of this community.”