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Waiting for death
BY DONNA HUSSEY-WHYTE
Sunday observer staff reporter
husseyd@jamaicobserver.com
Sunday, January 13, 2008
ANTS had made a nest in the bottom of his foot, but 62-year-old Herbert 'Butty' Hamilton thought he was being stung by pesky mosquitoes.
Weak and starving, the apparent stroke victim could not get up from his bed, which reeked of urine and faeces, to investigate the additional cause of his discomfort.
Annette Newman feeds Herbert Hamilton cranberry juice while Janet Brown prepares to feed him a warm meal after he had gone without food and water for four days.
The repugnant smell of faeces, stale urine and mold appear to cling to the bushes outside his dilapidated house in Wesleyan Gully in a small district known as Good Middle Road, just outside of Thompson Town, Clarendon.
He has very few visitors. A few neighbours occasionally bring him food and water, while some of the women in the district will give him a much needed bath.
"Is a wonder him nuh dead already," one neighbour, Hazel Williams, said sadly. "Nobody nuh expect him fi live so long. Sometimes him down there for three, four days with no food, nothing!"
Williams told the Sunday Observer that although she could not afford to buy Hamilton food, she visited occasionally to give him a bath.
"Well, the food part, I can't really help him with," she said, as we met her on her way to visit Hamilton.
"Him really wah care. Him wah look bout!" Williams said passionately.
Less than a month ago, when the Sunday Observer visited Hamilton, he was lying on his bed unable to turn to his left or right, on what appeared to have once been white sheets, now soiled with large brown patches of either blood or faeces - it was hard to tell. Annette Newman and Janet Brown who, had learnt of his fate the day before, were feeding him. He had not had a meal in four days.
"Suppose you see when I came down here some months ago, him covered in mess and the place stink," Williams recalled. "I had to put something over mi nose before I could go in. Another lady was with me and she couldn't go in, she had to stay outside," she said. "When mi look mi see a hole in one of him foot. At first mi think it was worm, but when mi hold the foot and shake it out, a pure biting ants drop out! Suppose you see the amount of ants! Mi couldn't believe it. When mi ask him if him neva feel dem him sey him feel it but him tink it was mosquito. I couldn't believe it!"
Newman and Brown who were present at the first visit had shared a similar story of his condition and the infestation of ants in his flesh, adding that Hamilton's back has also been covered with blisters.
"I can't help it. I can't help it because I am sick!" Hamilton said as his voice cracked with tears.
Hamilton shakily related his story.
The father of five children said five months ago one of his sons, who is a police officer assigned to the Chapelton Police Station in the parish, took him to the hospital after he had complained of bad feelings (nausea).
After spending some time in the hospital, Hamilton was brought home. He is still unsure of the diagnosis.
Hamilton told the Sunday Observer that after he returned from the hospital, he suffered a stroke. No one was there to help him. This left his left side completely paralysed. He had not seen a doctor to confirm if he in fact had a stroke.
Ten days ago, when the Sunday Observer visited Hamilton, his situation still had not improved.
This time he was alone, locked in his house - waiting, whether for someone to bring him food and water or death - wasn't quite clear. Things had not changed much for him, as he was still lying on his back unable to move. However, his surrounding was cleaner than it was on our last visit.
"Since the last time yuh come. I still don't see nuh doctor," he said, remembering a promise that a doctor would have visited in a few days.
"I still don't see mi son or none a mi family."
Neighbours say none of Hamilton's five children had taken on the responsibility of caring for him.
"Sefus (a neighbour) has been helping me out," Hamilton said. "He was here up to last night. And I have two church sisters who come and help sometimes," Hamilton said.
"Sefus is the main person helping me, if I get some money I would give him. But my main problem is just food. I have not left this bed in months, but I just bend my mind to it," he said. He has no electricity, no radio to keep him company and welcomes the occasional visitor to talk to.
"From the son tek him back up here, him ask if I could give a eye on him. But I have three sick people working on, and so I help out for about two months 'til I could not do it anymore," Williams said.
"Since dem time deh, him son nuh come back, him nuh call nuh body, him nuh visit, him nuh send nuh money fi help look after him father, nothing!
One of his daughters come two times, but then she said he never looked after her so she nuh business wid him."
Vincent Dawkins, another neighbour, recalls the morning he went to tend his field a few metres from Hamilton's house and saw him lying on the verandah in his own mess, after he had collapsed.
"I came down here and saw him on the ground," Dawkins said. "We called his son in Chapelton and he took him to the hospital in Denbigh, and he stayed there a month. But since the son tek him back here, nobody nuh see the son again."
But when Hamilton's son, who is assigned to the Chapelton Police Station was contacted, he noted that contrary to the accusation of neighbours and even his father, he, along with his daughter visited Hamilton "New Year's weekend".
"My father would like me to visit him everyday, but I can't do that. I am here sorting out things so that I can either take him to live with me, or put him in a home, whichever one works out," he said. "A lot of sad situations are around right now, even worse than his. Right now, everyone acting like I am the only child he has, but I never grow with him and I am doing what I can."
He explained that when his father was admitted in the hospital he spent $17,000 for him to do a brain scan. He said he has been buying grocery and sending it to him on a regular basis.
"He has no life savings so I have to be doing what I can. Right now I have somethings that I purchase, including pampers and I have asked my daughter to take it to him but I haven't seen her yet."
But he contends that he, too, has his life to live and the time that he would be spending with his father could be better used trying to 'sort things out'.
"I am in the process of sorting things out for him. Right now I took leave from work to sort things out. I don't wish to disclose what it is." But when asked of the possibility of visiting his father even once per week to ensure that he was all right, he noted that this, too, would not fit into his schedule.
"I never really grew up with him. I just visited him on holidays, the other children grew with him and they are not helping. I agree that it is a sad situation yes, but in a sense I am glad it is being highlighted because maybe now his other children will help."
"Time hard, money slow," Hamilton said, as if accepting his fate. A member of the Faith Temple Church, Hamilton says he continues to be hopeful that his situation would soon change.
Waiting for death
BY DONNA HUSSEY-WHYTE
Sunday observer staff reporter
husseyd@jamaicobserver.com
Sunday, January 13, 2008
ANTS had made a nest in the bottom of his foot, but 62-year-old Herbert 'Butty' Hamilton thought he was being stung by pesky mosquitoes.
Weak and starving, the apparent stroke victim could not get up from his bed, which reeked of urine and faeces, to investigate the additional cause of his discomfort.
Annette Newman feeds Herbert Hamilton cranberry juice while Janet Brown prepares to feed him a warm meal after he had gone without food and water for four days.
The repugnant smell of faeces, stale urine and mold appear to cling to the bushes outside his dilapidated house in Wesleyan Gully in a small district known as Good Middle Road, just outside of Thompson Town, Clarendon.
He has very few visitors. A few neighbours occasionally bring him food and water, while some of the women in the district will give him a much needed bath.
"Is a wonder him nuh dead already," one neighbour, Hazel Williams, said sadly. "Nobody nuh expect him fi live so long. Sometimes him down there for three, four days with no food, nothing!"
Williams told the Sunday Observer that although she could not afford to buy Hamilton food, she visited occasionally to give him a bath.
"Well, the food part, I can't really help him with," she said, as we met her on her way to visit Hamilton.
"Him really wah care. Him wah look bout!" Williams said passionately.
Less than a month ago, when the Sunday Observer visited Hamilton, he was lying on his bed unable to turn to his left or right, on what appeared to have once been white sheets, now soiled with large brown patches of either blood or faeces - it was hard to tell. Annette Newman and Janet Brown who, had learnt of his fate the day before, were feeding him. He had not had a meal in four days.
"Suppose you see when I came down here some months ago, him covered in mess and the place stink," Williams recalled. "I had to put something over mi nose before I could go in. Another lady was with me and she couldn't go in, she had to stay outside," she said. "When mi look mi see a hole in one of him foot. At first mi think it was worm, but when mi hold the foot and shake it out, a pure biting ants drop out! Suppose you see the amount of ants! Mi couldn't believe it. When mi ask him if him neva feel dem him sey him feel it but him tink it was mosquito. I couldn't believe it!"
Newman and Brown who were present at the first visit had shared a similar story of his condition and the infestation of ants in his flesh, adding that Hamilton's back has also been covered with blisters.
"I can't help it. I can't help it because I am sick!" Hamilton said as his voice cracked with tears.
Hamilton shakily related his story.
The father of five children said five months ago one of his sons, who is a police officer assigned to the Chapelton Police Station in the parish, took him to the hospital after he had complained of bad feelings (nausea).
After spending some time in the hospital, Hamilton was brought home. He is still unsure of the diagnosis.
Hamilton told the Sunday Observer that after he returned from the hospital, he suffered a stroke. No one was there to help him. This left his left side completely paralysed. He had not seen a doctor to confirm if he in fact had a stroke.
Ten days ago, when the Sunday Observer visited Hamilton, his situation still had not improved.
This time he was alone, locked in his house - waiting, whether for someone to bring him food and water or death - wasn't quite clear. Things had not changed much for him, as he was still lying on his back unable to move. However, his surrounding was cleaner than it was on our last visit.
"Since the last time yuh come. I still don't see nuh doctor," he said, remembering a promise that a doctor would have visited in a few days.
"I still don't see mi son or none a mi family."
Neighbours say none of Hamilton's five children had taken on the responsibility of caring for him.
"Sefus (a neighbour) has been helping me out," Hamilton said. "He was here up to last night. And I have two church sisters who come and help sometimes," Hamilton said.
"Sefus is the main person helping me, if I get some money I would give him. But my main problem is just food. I have not left this bed in months, but I just bend my mind to it," he said. He has no electricity, no radio to keep him company and welcomes the occasional visitor to talk to.
"From the son tek him back up here, him ask if I could give a eye on him. But I have three sick people working on, and so I help out for about two months 'til I could not do it anymore," Williams said.
"Since dem time deh, him son nuh come back, him nuh call nuh body, him nuh visit, him nuh send nuh money fi help look after him father, nothing!
One of his daughters come two times, but then she said he never looked after her so she nuh business wid him."
Vincent Dawkins, another neighbour, recalls the morning he went to tend his field a few metres from Hamilton's house and saw him lying on the verandah in his own mess, after he had collapsed.
"I came down here and saw him on the ground," Dawkins said. "We called his son in Chapelton and he took him to the hospital in Denbigh, and he stayed there a month. But since the son tek him back here, nobody nuh see the son again."
But when Hamilton's son, who is assigned to the Chapelton Police Station was contacted, he noted that contrary to the accusation of neighbours and even his father, he, along with his daughter visited Hamilton "New Year's weekend".
"My father would like me to visit him everyday, but I can't do that. I am here sorting out things so that I can either take him to live with me, or put him in a home, whichever one works out," he said. "A lot of sad situations are around right now, even worse than his. Right now, everyone acting like I am the only child he has, but I never grow with him and I am doing what I can."
He explained that when his father was admitted in the hospital he spent $17,000 for him to do a brain scan. He said he has been buying grocery and sending it to him on a regular basis.
"He has no life savings so I have to be doing what I can. Right now I have somethings that I purchase, including pampers and I have asked my daughter to take it to him but I haven't seen her yet."
But he contends that he, too, has his life to live and the time that he would be spending with his father could be better used trying to 'sort things out'.
"I am in the process of sorting things out for him. Right now I took leave from work to sort things out. I don't wish to disclose what it is." But when asked of the possibility of visiting his father even once per week to ensure that he was all right, he noted that this, too, would not fit into his schedule.
"I never really grew up with him. I just visited him on holidays, the other children grew with him and they are not helping. I agree that it is a sad situation yes, but in a sense I am glad it is being highlighted because maybe now his other children will help."
"Time hard, money slow," Hamilton said, as if accepting his fate. A member of the Faith Temple Church, Hamilton says he continues to be hopeful that his situation would soon change.
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