Two injured in motorcycle crash plead for help
SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — October 4 was supposed to be a regular day for 22-year-old Daniel Wright and his friend, 26-year-old Oshane Mowatt.
However, that night, the motorcycle they were driving collided with a car in Paradise, Westmoreland, just a mile from their houses.
They were heading home after visiting the family of a deceased friend when the crash happened, leaving both of them hospitalised with serious injuries.
They are grateful to be alive but now they need surgery that they cannot afford.
Wright, who was in control of the motorcycle at the time of the crash, ended up with fractures to his waist and pelvis. He is now bedridden, he told the Jamaica Observer.
Police investigating the crash said that the men were not wearing helmets.
“The pain I’m feeling mostly is from my pelvis. The pelvis holds me down and I don’t move. The nurses tie me down because they don’t want it to shift,” he explained.
He also has a broken leg and wrist.
Being the sole breadwinner for his girlfriend and their three-year-old son, Wright is worried that he is now unable to earn living. It will cost almost $200,000, according to documentation he provided, to buy medical supplies needed to close the fracture. That does not include the cost of the surgery.
Wright is appealing for help as his savings cannot cover all the costs.
Mowatt, who was the passenger on the motorcycle, fared even worse. He has injuries to his head, plus his two legs and an elbow are broken.
His medical bills, he said, are about $1.2 million, which he cannot afford.
“The doctor said I’m going to need a pin to my left leg for the surgery and that costs $180,000. The surgery can cost up to $1 million but I don’t have a million dollars so I have to work with the hospital protocol. It could take me up to three months before I get the surgery, but I’d be happy if I got help before that,” Mowatt said.
His cousin Natalee Palmer and other well-wishers are trying to raise funds for both men’s medical bills. They will have a lunch sale in the parish on November 13.
“We are aware that there can’t be any large gatherings and that parties are prohibited, so what we plan to do is to print some food tickets and sell them. The food will be delivered so that no gatherings will take place. We will also be accepting donations,” Palmer explained.
Disheartened by the accident, she made a plea for motorists to drive and ride safely.
“I just want to appeal to motorists to drive and ride for each other and to be each other’s keeper,” she urged. “And for anybody that is willing to donate in whatever way you can, please do so, so that these young men with such promising futures can have a chance at a normal life again.”
Anyone willing to assist may make donations to the Savanna-la-Mar C&WJ Cooperative Credit Union. The account number is 4354627.