MANDEVILLE, Manchester — After more than a month in the United States, Mandeville heart patient Cherine Allen-Powell is back home, strong and upbeat as she continues to recover from surgery.

“I can do everything for myself but I don’t do any work,” she told the Jamaica Observer in an interview recently.

She left the island in July to undertake heart surgery at the Heart Hospital Baylor Plano in Texas and returned home on September 6.

Allen-Powell, who was at risk of heart failure, reached out to the public through a Sunday Observer story earlier this year, for financial assistance to fund her medical bills.

She was unable to find the close to $1 million cost for the required corrective surgery suggested by the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) where she was a patient.

As a response to a follow-up article in April outlining the struggles with her fund-raising efforts, Jamaican-born family physician and associate professor Dr Carlton Clarke who resides in Dallas, Texas, contacted her and eventually put in place the necessary arrangements that allowed her to get the help that she needed.

He said that the Baylor Heart Hospital covered the approximately US$250,000 cost of her surgery in July, hospital stay and cardiac rehabilitation that was started there.

Allen-Powell’s full recovery is expected to take approximately six months, according to Dr Clarke, and since her return home Allen-Powell has been receiving regular checks at the Mandeville Regional Hospital.

She said that she will still need to take some medication even after complete recovery from the surgery and was reportedly given a year and a half supply of what she will need, by Dr Clarke.

During her time in Dallas, Allen-Powell stayed at the home of Dr Clarke and his wife Phyllis, who is a registered nurse and recalled with gratitude how “Sister Clarke stopped from work to take care of me at home and every other morning take me for physiotherapy.”

Dudley McFarquhar, president of the service organisation, Dallas West Indies United (DWIU), of which the Clarkes are members, said that he and his wife Paula made a “concerted effort” to assist with Allen-Powell’s well-being in Dallas and provided financial support for her husband and two children in Jamaica while she was away to ensure that worry did not impede the recovery process.

The McFarquhars were also responsible for her airfare to Dallas.

At his own expense, McFarquhar said, he escorted Allen-Powell back to Jamaica and he and his sister drove her to Mandeville to be reunited with her family.

Moral support from other members of the 13-year old DWIU included the planning of a farewell party and early celebration for her 37th birthday, which was on September 16.

The Dallas experience for Allen-Powell transcended the four-hour procedure to restore her failing heart and two photo albums she brought home reflected time spent with the Clarkes, McFarquhars, other members of the Dallas West Indies United group and staff at Baylor Heart Hospital.

“They didn’t treat me like a stranger, they treated me like family and made me happy and comfortable. May God continue to bless them. I love them all,” Allen-Powell said particularly of the Clarkes and McFarquhars.

The feasibility of plans for collaboration between Baylor Heart Hospital and the University Hospital of the West Indies to assist other heart patients is reportedly being considered.