FIFTY-seven-year-old Gloria Ormsby is worried, frustrated and penniless.

A motor vehicle crash three months ago has left her without an income and in urgent need of a surgical procedure, which involves replacing three bones in her neck.

The surgical implants, she says, is estimated to cost J$127,000.

“Based on the doctor’s report, three of the vertebraes are damaged,” a worried Ormsby told the Jamaica Observer West earlier this week.

But she has no clue where the first dollar is coming from to purchase the anterior cervical plates, as well as the screws that work along with them.

“The doctors at the hospital said they do not supply those plates. They have to be purchased by the patient and the cost is $127,000 and I am not able to afford it,” she lamented.

Ormsby is now appealing to the public for financial assistance to secure the well-needed equipment to get her life back on track.

The Observer West received confirmation from the Cornwall Regional Hospital that Ormsby is genuinely in need of the surgical implants.

According to Ormsby, she was sent crashing into the windscreen of a car in which she was travelling after it reportedly experienced brake failure.

She said she sustained multiple injuries to her head and neck in the incident.

The injuries, she noted, have since brought her life to a standstill, as she is now unable to fend for herself.

“The doctors said I received whiplash injury. I was flung forward and bounced back and I hit the side of my head and even some fibreglass was inside the wound,” she told the Observer West.

“The doctor said that the whiplash damaged the nerves in both of my hands. I also received an ear injury. For example, if I bend down like I am sitting and raise up back, it full of wind and hurts. And there is a numbness in the right side of the ear.”

Ormsby said the driver of the vehicle was not authorised to drive the unit, and as such she is unable to make a claim on the company with which the vehicle was insured. She added that she is yet to seek legal advice on the matter.

Up to the afternoon of Sunday, November 2014, Ormsby, a divorcée, toiled to put bread on her table from her backyard farm and juggling odd jobs.

“I used to do day’s work, cut yard, wash, clean places in order to achieve something to put food on my table. I wouldn’t call myself a farmer, but I have a little backyard farm. I am not a lazy person. I work very hard,” she emphasised.

But her life was drastically transformed after the motor vehicle crash.

She can now only walk short distances, which she says causes her body to be convulsed in excruciating pain. Although five of her eight children are still alive, she said that none is in a position to help her meet her financial demands at this time.

However, a defiant Ormsby expressed confidence that her life will take a turn for the better after the surgery.

“The doctor say when I do the surgery stability will be restored,” she said.

But she was quick to add that there could be devastating effects should the procedure go wrong.

“I really believe that I will live to help myself again, although the doctor said it is a very technical surgery. He said the bones are pressuring the spinal cord.”

“One doctor say I can walk into the theatre and sail in a wheelchair come out,” Ormsby added sombrely.

Meanwhile, the 57-year-old who lives in a one-room boardhouse, without electricity, reiterated that she is finding it extremely difficult to fill her prescriptions.

“I need help overall which you can see, but at this special moment, I would like to help myself again,” she said.

“My prescription was supposed to be filled sometime last week and the social worker begged J &J Pharmacy to assist me with over $4,000 [worth of drugs]. Anyone who gives me something [money] it has to go into medication because I just cannot do anything [work],” she moaned.