YOUTUBER Claude “Big Stone” Sinclair is appealing to the public to donate blood for him before he undergoes surgery at University Hospital of the West Indies on Wednesday to correct a painful back injury which prevents him from standing longer than a few seconds.

The well known philanthropist and blogger damaged his back last year after he fell inside a cemetery, and the injury has since then worsened.

Sinclair, who has stage four prostate cancer, shared with the Jamaica Observer on Monday that he has experienced a lot of pain in hospital while he awaits surgery.

“I need blood. It has to be added before the surgery Wednesday. The doctor said I should use whatever resources I have to get the word out there. People can go to the blood bank; my name will be there, my type of blood will be there. All you have to do is just state who you are donating blood for,” Sinclair advised.

According to Sinclair, the cancer has metastasised to his hip and spine after the fall he had in August last year.

“I fractured some of the vertebrae and it is actually resting on my sciatic nerve and on my spinal cord. The surgery is to remove the bones that are touching — that is the purpose of the surgery. The cancer is at stage four. It has metastasised, which means it left the original spot where it started, which is the prostate,” he said.

Sinclair shared that Sunday was a particularly difficult day for him due to the fact that he had problems urinating.

“Yesterday was a rough day because twice the doctor said I was bleeding from my prostate. Because I was bleeding from the prostate, it clogged up the catheter. I couldn’t pass my urine so they had to insert a catheter. I wasn’t able to pass my urine two to three hours at a time. The catheter is in and I am able to pass my urine now,” Sinclair said.

He expressed gratitude to veteran Government Member of Parliament Olivia “Babsy” Grange, family, friends and well-wishers for providing support to him in this difficult time.

Last year August, Sinclair accompanied Dr Julius Garvey, the son of National Hero Marcus Garvey, to visit the grave of his mother, Amy Jacques Garvey, inside the St Andrew Parish Church Cemetery.

As they walked through the cemetery Sinclair, who was video recording the visit to post on his YouTube page, fell backwards.

“It was Dr Julius Garvey’s 91st birthday and we accompanied him to lay a wreath at his father’s shrine and his mother’s grave on August 16th, which is his birthday. While we were going I was videotaping Dr Garvey and I was walking backwards and I slipped and fell on my bottom. I did’t think much of it but as the months progressed I started to feel some pain in my back. It got gradually worse. I moved from being able to walk, to only taking a few steps. I could stand, but now I can’t stand at all because of the pain. I feel pain every night,” he said.