Wheelchairs galore as Jamaicans rally around paralysed mother

OCHO RIOS, St Ann — Jamaicans here and abroad have responded positively to a story published in the Jamaica Observer last Sunday, January 4, regarding a paralysed mother who needs help for herself and her family.

Althea McFarlane, who has been paralysed for over six years, has received two wheelchairs and has had to refuse several others as many persons came to her assistance.

McFarlane’s plight was first told to the Sunday Observer by Kim Brown Lawrence, who recently found out the woman’s dire situation.

Brown Lawrence, the councillor/caretaker for the Brown’s Town division of the St Ann Parish Council, said that she has discovered several families in need while doing house-to-house visits in the area.

Among the first to respond to McFarlane was the Mind Body and Soul Health Ministry, a charitable organisation comprised mainly of Jamaicans living overseas.

Founding director Horace Morgan journeyed to Middle Buxton just a day after arriving in the island with a wheelchair for McFarlane. According to Morgan, he saw the article in the Online edition of the Sunday Observer and decided that he had to do something as soon as he arrived in the island. A day later, he was putting that into action.

Asked why he responded so speedily, Morgan said: “In Deuteronomy 15:11, we are commanded: ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.”

Morgan has since pledged to get further assistance to the family through the organisation.

While Morgan was at the McFarlane residence last Tuesday, Member of Parliament Dr Dayton Campbell also turned up with a wheelchair. Several persons and organisations including Food For the Poor, and the Rotary Club of St Andrew also expressed an interest in donating wheelchairs.

McFarlane was grateful for the assistance.

“I feel very good. I can’t explain how I feel,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

She said she was particularly grateful to Brown Lawrence, who helped in getting others to realise her plight.

“She is a very nice young lady. I feel very good,” McFarlane stated.

Sylvester McFarlane also expressed his gratitude for the assistance that his daughter has been getting.

“I’m feeling good, especially for you (Jamaica Observer) and Ms Brown,” he stated.

He said that several persons had called wanting to assist since the story was published.

Brown Lawrence said that she was happy to see persons coming on board to assist, putting politics aside and helping a family in need.

“We need help for her, any amount of help for her as long as it is non-political. The more help the merrier,” she said.

Brown said that people have been showing their love to the family in different ways. She, however, pointed out that the needs will be ongoing as Althea McFarlane depends on her elderly parents for support.

“She needs adult diapers; her daughter travels to school every day and they are without light,” she stated.

In the meantime, the Jamaica Public Service has already pledged to look into the family’s situation and to see how best it can remedy the current situation.