Walking in pain ... woman needs hip replacement surgery

Just before Iciline Williams gave birth to her last child 20 years ago, she slid in a slippery track with her wash pan on her head, unknowingly fracturing her hip.

Williams, seven months' pregnant at the time, was on her way home from Johnson River in Morant Bay, and had just finished washing the clothes of her five other children before she fell on the river stone.

"I was feeling the pain but I didn't take it as nothing. But over the years I notice that I cannot stoop down and I have been going to doctor and going to doctor and dem a say dem nuh see nutten," Williams said.

As the discomfort became more pronounced, Williams told THE STAR she had to stop her work as a vendor in downtown Kingston

"I used to sell food, bag juice and water downtown but about three or four years ago, mi stop because I can't do anything," Williams said.

She said this forced her to use the money she had saved up to take care of her basic needs, and also to fund her doctor visits.

Earlier this year, the 49-year-old did an X-ray which revealed that the hip she had unknowingly fractured 20 years ago is 'rotting away' and she needs urgent hip replacement surgery to rectify the problem.

ROTTING AWAY

"Dem say that the hip is rotting away and they say it is from an injury many years ago," Williams said.

Medical technologists estimated that the hip replacement surgery will set Williams back nearly $400,000, but her inability to work has made her incapable of coming up with the money to do the surgery.

"My kids are not in a position to help me. Some of them not working and they have kids," Williams said. "All they can give me now is a place to stay at when I have a doctor's appointment," said Williams, who has been forced to walk with a cane.

"I would be happy if I could get some help because the pain is becoming unbearable," Williams added.

For those who wish to assist Williams, she can be contacted at the number 1 876 840 4608.