TWO years ago doctors predicted that Sheldon McIntosh would have to live on a life support machine, after life as he knew it was altered by a gunman’s bullets to his head and neck which left him paralysed.

Today it is nothing short of a miracle that he can speak or even move his upper body. But for this ever-optimistic 29-year-old, the greatest miracle is yet to come as he is convinced he will one day walk again.

“At the end of the day I know I have a purpose here and so this is just an obstacle, and so I know it is not a matter of if I will ever walk, but when,” he said confidently.

Propped up in bed at his home in Kingston, McIntosh’s hopes of a full recovery are being kept alive with the belief that he will get an opportunity to return to Cuba for further physiotherapy treatment once the money can be found.

According to local doctors who have treated him, his best hope for a full recovery is to continue treatment at a facility in Cuba.

The only problem is that McIntosh and his family have already spent close to $1.5 million in medical costs and cannot find the $700,000 per month which will be needed for six months of therapy at this facility.

Prior to that fateful day on March 17, 2008, the mild-mannered and soft-spoken 6’4″ McIntosh had his future all planned out.

At 27, he had bought his first car, started his events planning company, was doing sales part time and was saving towards buying his dream house.

Described as a “progressive young man” by his mother Mazielyn McIntosh, he is said to have never missed a chance to capitalise on a business opportunity, or to go out of his way to help the less fortunate.

That Monday, like any other, he had gone to collect money at a business establishment where his retail goods were being sold.

As he spoke with the proprietor, McIntosh said a gunman walked in and started shooting.

He was shot three times in the head, once in the cheek and took another bullet in the back of the head which went through his neck and lodged in his spine.

As he lay bleeding on the ground, McIntosh recalled his older sister Joy’s advice to call upon the Lord if he was ever in difficulty.

“I tried to get up, but I realised I couldn’t move so I just turned my head and looked up and the first person I saw was a lady named Miss Brown and she leaned over me and I said to her, “Pray for me,” he recalled.

“She said ‘Jesus Christ have mercy on him’ and I just felt revived,” he told the Observer.

He was taken to the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) where he spent a month on a life support machine in the Intensive Care Unit.

“The doctors at KPH said if he lived he would have to be on a life support machine for the rest of his life,” said his doting mother who has since closed her business to stay home and take care of the youngest of her five children.

But against all odds McIntosh recovered enough to be taken off life support a month later. But unfortunately, with the high ratio of patients to doctors on the wards at KPH, Mrs McIntosh said they were advised that KPH was not the best place for him.

The biggest challenge was to find a hospital willing to admit him or a surgeon brave enough to perform the life-threatening surgery to remove the bullet lodged in his spine.

Still remaining optimistic, McIntosh said he again prayed for a solution and immediately remembered that his former teacher at University of the West Indies Continuing Studies School was Fabian Brown, then head of St Joseph’s Hospital.

Within hours arrangements were made for him to be transferred to that institution.

He said Dr Mark Minott conducted a six-hour-long surgery, while Dr Caren Phillips ensured that he was stabilised.

But after three months of very little progress and close to $1.5 million in medical costs, the doctors advised that the treatment he needed could be had in Cuba .

Mrs McIntosh said she received a grant of $1.1 million from the Ministry of Health which covered the cost for him to receive six weeks of treatment at the facility.

According to McIntosh, before going to Cuba, when propped up, he was unable to maintain his balance or move his upper body.

“The first thing they did in Cuba was to strengthen my upper body as well as give me a type of oxygen treatment that stimulated the spine,” he said. In addition, he was treated for an intense nerve pain in his shoulder.

“Now I don’t have that pain anymore and I am strengthened to the point where I can now have some balance so I can sit up with some sort of a support,” he said as he demonstrated his limited mobility skills.

The family will be pulling out all the stops to help to raise these needed funds, hosting a family Fun Day this Saturday at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre in Kingston.

A selfless and ever-smiling McIntosh said he hopes the event can become an annual one to assist persons in similar situations.

“I want this to be an annual thing to assist persons who suffer the same fate because from my experience in Cuba I realise that rehabilitation is not just stabilising a person and putting them in a wheelchair, because far more can be done for them,” he said.

McIntosh believes if some facilities had certain equipment they could go a long way in helping others.

He is even more hopeful for his own recovery after seeing a young man from Angola at the facility in Cuba now walking after being on a life support machine for a year and paralysed for five years.

“When I saw him he was back at the facility to get rid of a limp because they had helped him to walk again,” he said.

Surprisingly, McIntosh said he has forgiven his attacker and he is now focusing all his energy on walking again.

“I have forgiven him because he will have to justify to his Maker why he took that road and did this to me and my family,” he said.

Instead he has only gratitude for the support he has received along the way from friends, family and well-wishers and the many prayers from the congregation at St Luke’s Church and the Greater Works International Fellowship in Kingston.

Persons wishing to assist McIntosh can make contributions to RBTT account #4410317200183874 in the name Sheldon McIntosh Medical Expenses.