(Part one of a three-part series)

There is no questioning or disputing the reputation of Reverend Glen OJ Archer, OD.

From humble beginnings at Harbour View Primary as St Andrew Parish Spelling Bee champion in 1965, a passion and fire was started that continued well through St George’s College and into the Jamaica Theology Seminary, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology with honours.

The fire wasn’t to be rekindled until after brief migration to Canada in 1978 when a lead poisoning incident while working at a factory, and the feeling of being lost like a needle in a haystack steered him back home to Jamaica the very same year … back to his true calling and purpose of Christian ministry, not around a pulpit but shaping young lives by teaching Religious Knowledge at Ardenne High.

The rest is history: manager of Ardenne High’s only ever Manning Cup win in 1991, coach of 26 National Spelling Bee champions since 1986, and four School’s Challenge Quiz victories as coach, most recently in 2013. Nobody will forget his crowning glory — Jody Anne Maxwell’s 1997 Scripps Howard Spelling Bee victory, placing Jamaica on the map, like only Bob Marley, Usain Bolt and a few others ever have. His life and work is a timeless testament of dedication, discipline and selfless service to youth, education, school and country, a record and legacy that can never be tarnished or besmirched. His untimely demise however, mired in debate and controversy, prompts much question.

Throughout the Spelling Bee and School’s Challenge Quiz, Rev Archer was revered as a no-nonsense coach with zero tolerance for mediocrity. He was known to point out errors and challenge decisions of spell masters and quiz masters, sometimes coming across as defiant and arrogant. Love him or hate him, Glen Archer will be memorialised as a devout man, a staunch disciplinarian, an exemplary educator and a coach of champions that will always occupy a special place in the hearts and psyche of Jamaicans.

Often misunderstood in life, so is he now in death. Social media commentary of financial and medical struggles faced during his last days and questions asked of ‘the powers that be’ about assistance and efforts or lack thereof to save his life in the Observer’s March 2 ‘My country failed me’ article, all in an attempt to highlight the plights of a Jamaican stalwart and the woeful inadequacies of a crumbling health care system, have instead spiralled into a media firestorm of whodunnit, who did what and who did not.

With the noise having now subsided, I seek to provide some clarity and once again ask questions still unanswered … questions he would have also asked, having been cheated of the competition of his life, that was his life. My platform is that of a past Spelling Bee champion and one of two persons who spent the last five weeks of Glen Archer’s life by his bedside almost daily assisting with his personal, financial and medical affairs.

Kidney failure

In 2010 he was diagnosed with end stage renal failure. It would be his diminished physical appearance at Spelling Bee and School’s Challenge Quiz matches in 2011 as well as a Jamaica Gleaner article ‘Ardenne kids aid Glen Archer’ that would publicly announce his condition.

For the next five years, Glen Archer struggled with dialysis twice per week at $15,000 weekly. Assistance eventually came from a Grade nine Ardenne class and the CHASE Fund. Additional assistance was later sought in 2012 on Rev Archer’s behalf, with more than a dozen letters handwritten and delivered by Mr Roy Ebanks, esteemed Ardenne past principal and friend/mentor, to individuals, companies and Government officials including the prime minister, governor general and minister of health. Only former Prime Minister PJ Patterson responded and assisted.

Having been on the waiting list for free dialysis at the Kingston Public Hospital for some time, Rev Archer was inflexibly offered treatment on days that were integral to his Spelling Bee and School’s Challenge Quiz programmes. He refused treatment at KPH, instead opting to continue paid treatment at Lydia Dialysis Centre. Spelling Bee and School’s Challenge Quiz to him were sacred and then his only source of income — having not received a pension despite going on early retirement from Ardenne circa 2001 — a labour of love funded from the 1980s up until then, almost solely on a mere teacher’s salary and the sale of ice cream novelties.

In October 2014, Rev Archer was incapacited by the Chikungunya epidemic. The 17-year-old Ardenne High 11th grader and 2011 Spelling Bee champion Hanif Brown took over the reins of the Spelling Bee programme, coaching three parish champions for the National Spelling Bee finals while Ardenne teacher and assistant coach Danlee Wadsworth, and 2013 winning Ardenne Quiz team captain Keenan Falconer commandeered School’s Challenge Quiz training.

In January 2015 Glen Archer was rushed to the UHWI by ambulance after serious fainting spells, where it was discovered he had developed life-threatening catheter sepsis from a blood-based fungal infection by the catheter used for dialysis, which was unchanged for four years.

A Jamaica National account was opened, an online crowd funding campaign ‘Long Live Glen Archer’ was started, a recognition and fundraising dinner dubbed ‘Deo Volente at the Jamaica Pegasus’ was planned. An article ‘Glen Archer Fighting his Life’ was published February 4 in the Jamaica Gleaner, an appearance made on Smile Jamaica and social media was fired up. The public appeal for an eventual kidney transplant began. Calls were made and invitations were sent via email to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, Information Minister Sandrea Falconer and Education Minister Rev Ronnie Thwaites. Tickets for the dinner received very little support and the dinner was eventually postponed. Just under $750,000 of $2.5 million was raised, mostly through donations online, and handed over to the family.

Two antifungal drugs were identified as possible lifesavers but were not available in the island. They were Amphotericin B and Ecalta, the second of which he received free samples of and responded well to before they ran out. Desperate attempts were made to source the drug through Facey Commodity. Futile attempts were made to reach the minister of health for financial assistance and to source the drug. With the high cost of a small dosage required and with blood tests showing the infection had possibly receded, attempts at sourcing the drug were shelved until additional blood cultures were received from an overseas lab.

Doctors seemed upbeat and gave hope of imminent release but, not before long, doubts set in after signs of relapse. Doctors were unsure of their initial diagnosis of the fungal infection. Reverend Archer was livid, stating “they’re playing with my life” and threatening to check himself out of the hospital.

On February 12, the last time I saw him, he complained of headaches. His last words alive uttered to his caregiver on the evening of February 14 Valentine’s Day were: “The headache is severe.” He went into a coma just hours before his brother Gene Archer would arrive from Canada. It took doctors more than half an hour to respond to him. It was discovered he had suffered a massive stroke caused by vegetative matter from the fungal infection shutting down his heart valves.

Glen Archer passed away exactly one month ago on February 15, 2015 at 1:45 am at the University Hospital of the West Indies. Official cause of death — Infective Endocarditis. However, what killed him was headache and heartbreak, literally and figuratively.

Romell Newby is the 1999 National Spelling Bee champion. In the absence of Rev Archer’s family, he was involved at the heart of all matters concerning Rev Archer alongside caregiver Josephine Varcianna, Roy Ebanks and Hanif Brown Jr during the last few weeks leading up to Rev Archer’s death.