Man wants help to mend broken leg

After being in pain for years, Omar Martin, a 36-year-old mason of Cornel district in Jack’s River, St Mary, is seeking help to fund an operation to mend a broken leg he sustained in 2016.

During a domestic dispute in Westmoreland, where he was employed at the time, Martin said that he was forced to jump from a three storey building to save his life, snapping his left leg in the process, just above his ankle, leaving the bone protruding.

He underwent an operation at the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital and was later referred to the St Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital for further treatment.

He thought things would have turned out well, but that was not the case

The bone that snapped has not been mended and there is now a gap in the tibia (the shinbone), a few inches above his ankle. 

Because of this, the leg can bend just above the ankle, where there is no bone.

Martin said that an operation is needed to join the bones. He said that he was instructed by doctors to get an artificial bone placed in the leg to correct the situation.

“I need to do the surgery. They say the bone stop grow so mi haffi buy it, the bone, fi do the surgery. It is available in Coconut Grove, Ocho Rios,” Martin said.

He explained that the cost associated with acquiring the bone is about $140,000 which he is seeking help to acquire.

Martin said an entity has pledged $50,000 to the cause, and he is now seeking the balance of $90,000.

The entire episode has left Martin in a desperate and frustrating situation, as he hasn’t been able to work since 2016, and he has to be maintaining himself with hardly anything from anyone. 

“A faith mi have mek mi deh right yah so a talk to you. And some people I buck at hospital, them share them number and dem a give me a strength. Mi just need the help fi go back pon mi foot, because a me a mi own right hand and a me a mi own left hand,” Martin told THE STAR. 

Persons wishing to assist Omar Martin may contact him at 458-2514.