NEGRIL, Westmoreland – ONE morning Sareta Sammon woke up weak and unable to get out of bed. The White Hall, Westmoreland, resident was rushed to hospital where doctors diagnosed a loss of bone density in her left leg and said the only option was amputation.

Her adult son gave consent as by then Sammon, who is diabetic, had slipped into a coma.

“I went to work on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and I got sick on Friday and got worse on Saturday. I was taken to [a hospital in] Savanna-la-Mar where they said my bone below the knee is rotten, so they had to cut it off,” explained Sammon.

She was speaking with the Jamaica Observer recently during a much more joyous occasion: She was presented with a wheelchair. She was one of 264 Jamaicans whose lives have been transformed by the generosity of Rotary Clubs in Jamaica and the United States, which partnered to provide the items valued at US$62,000 (about $9.5 million). Approximately 140 chairs were distributed in Trelawny, St James and Negril during the first week of July. The handover took place at Travellers Beach Resort in Negril.

For Sammon, having a wheelchair means independence. Since losing her leg she has been unable to work and has to depend on friends and Father Jim Boc, who is the priest at Mary Gate of Heaven Roman Catholic Church in Negril. They assist her with food and medication.

With the loss of her leg she had to give up going to church as she finds the use of crutches tiring.

“The wheelchair will take me a far way. I can go to church now. I can go shopping now. I can stroll down the road now and again. It will be a great help to me,” she gushed.

She is also looking forward to once again being able to do mundane chores such as laundry and raking her yard.

Norma Anderson, also from White Hall, is another grateful recipient of a wheelchair. She is also diabetic and lost her right leg to gangrene. It all started with a nail piercing her foot. After a year of doctors’ visits, the wound refused to heal.

“I had to tell them to take it [the foot] and done because when I go to the hospital with it, the more the doctor cuts and squeezes it out, the more it swells and goes up [the leg]. That is why they had to cut off so far up,” Anderson told Observer West.

Though she has been able to manage fairly well at home with the aid of crutches, she has been unable to work. She said the wheelchair she has received will go a far way in helping her to be more self-reliant.

“It was difficult for me without the wheelchair because when I move around with the stick I can’t hold anything to carry, but now that I have a wheelchair I can hold a bag and go to the supermarket and shop,” stated Anderson.

“I am so happy for it. I am just asking God to bless those who put it together and let me get it,” she added.

Rotary District 7570 Governor Kathleen Kanter said the donations were made possible through a partnership between her district — which is made up of 80 clubs from Western Virginia and Northeastern Tennessee — and District 7610 which purchased and shipped the chairs to Jamaica. In addition, 20 Rotarians from the United States paid their own way to Trelawny to help distribute chairs.

Rotary Clubs in Jamaica played their part by taking care of the logistics on the ground and recommending people in need of chairs.

Kanter, who has been visiting Jamaica since 1988, said it was a fabulous feeling to be able to assist Jamaicans in need. She said Rotary will be back in October with a group of dentists.

“I have an ongoing relationship with Jamaica. I was in a position to help decide where they [the wheelchairs] were coming this year and so I said, ‘Please, please, Jamaica,’ ” said Kanter.