The mother of a 15-year-old boy left paralysed earlier this year is looking for financial assistance to pay for a suction machine that is needed for his recovery.

Kemar Wallace suffered the life-changing injury on March 31 when he broke two neck bones in a diving accident during a river trip in St Ann, impacting the blood flow to his organs.

Following life-saving surgery, it is time for Kemar to be discharged from hospital. However, he needs a suction machine that will be used at home to keep his airway clear, according to his mother, Antonette Wilson.

READ: 15-y-o boy suffers serious injuries in diving accident; GoFundMe launched

Wilson, who had opened a GoFundMe account to help pay for Kemar’s surgery, said a tracheostomy tube was surgically placed into her son’s neck to help him breathe. Now that it has been removed, a suction machine is needed to clear any mucus from his airway to ensure that he can respire properly, she said.

“They (the doctors) said that he is supposed to go home but he needs a suction machine because they took out the tube out of the trachea and put in one where he can talk,” Wilson told Observer Online.

“The one that was there before was to get him to breathe on his own but when they take it out and cover the hole they made in his throat, they realised that him a turn blue so him nah get enough oxygen,” she added.

The suction machine costs J$57,000 and Wilson is seeking the public’s assistance to cover the medical expense so her son can continue his recovery at home. Following the surgery and some physical therapy sessions while being admitted at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Kemar has regained mobility in one of his hands, and a finger on his other hand is also moving. He is expected to continue physical therapy at a rehab to hopefully restore movement to his body once space becomes available.

Wilson said her son has also been affected mentally by having to stay at the hospital, noting that the boy, who is typically jovial and friendly, has not been himself lately.

“They (hospital personnel) say sometimes he will still run his joke but then at other times he will not talk. They said that sometimes when he is sleeping he will jump up like he is panicking,” Wilson said.

“Since recently him not eating and the social worker at the hospital ask what me think why him not eating and me tell him that him probably want come home. So me talk with Kemar and ask him why him nah eat and him say him want come home because him feel like him nah get the attention him supposed to a get. And him want come home because him feel like it would a much better at home and get the care him think him should a get,” Wilson continued.

Kemar also needs a high back wheelchair to support his spine as he cannot sit up on his own. Wilson said she has attempted to source one through a social worker, but has so far been unsuccessful.

“I am seeking help for Kemar. I want him come home so he can push himself better and perform much better, so me woulda need the help fi get the suction machine and the wheel chair to get him home and make him feel more cheerful and give him the drive and push like what he had at the beginning of the incident,” Wilson implored the public.

Those willing to assist Wilson and Kemar in purchasing the suction machine to aid in his recovery can do so by sending donations to her National Commercial Bank (NCB) account:

Name: Antonette Wilson

NCB Branch: Burke Road, Spanish Town

NCB Account #: 475009614