Woman puzzled as to why she can barely walk

In her younger years, Jonelle McFarlane loved to play various sports.

She became a chef and had plans to raise a family with her husband. However, for the past six years, she has been barely able to walk. She believes her immobility is caused by two penicillin injections that she received after her legs became swollen when she was 24.

"I move around very slowly and I can't walk without tumbling over. Honestly, I feel very ashamed because sometimes when I fall over people laugh at me. I had got a work after I got sick and I lost it because I couldn't walk fast enough," she said. McFarlane said that when her legs began to swell, she initially thought it was because of the long hours at work.

"I was living in Hanover at the time and mi sister force me to go doctor. The doctor said the swelling looks like kidney and heart problems, but the tests came back negative. When I asked what caused the swelling, I didn't get an answer but the doctor said she was going to give me two penicillin [shots] to take down the swelling and I go home. But the swelling never go down. Instead, a bare pain mi start feel," she said.

McFarlane said that a few nights later, as she attempted to get out of bed, she realised that she was unable to feel her legs and fell.

"Mi couldn't get up. Mi have to call mi sister and mi nephew to take mi up. I couldn't sit up and mi foot dem swell same way. I could barely move. Whenever I am urinating I have to stand up like a man because if I stoop down, I cannot get up and mi just couldn't go manage mi self. Mi go back to the doctor and was given painkillers, but they didn't work," she said.

McFarlane did an MRI and said that she was told that the nerves in her legs were damaged, possibly an allergic reaction to the injections.

"Dem a say it look like mi get too much [penicillin]. Now mi just stress out because suh mi walk, a suh mi turn over. Mi can't run or anything and like how the time cold now, a dem time here mi feel pain from mi waist do down," she said. "The last time mi go to a doctor in Spanish Town, because a Kitson Town mi live now, dem say mi two foot dem develop physical disability and dem nah go come back [healthy]. She say the nerves dem dead and that make mi joints dem weak. She say further down the line mi ago have to use a wheelchair."

THE WEEKEND STAR reached out to several doctors about the possibility of the penicillin causing McFarlane's issues. However, they all wished to examine her before commenting. McFarlane said that her doctor recommended physiotherapy, but she is not able to afford it.

"I visited a place and they told me it was $4,000 per session, but I can't manage it. It is just my husband alone who is working and he doesn't have a steady job," she said. McFarlane is seeking financial assistance to start a small business at her home.

"My husband build a stall for me and we had already started buying some snacks but it's not enough. I can barely move around, but I don't want this to slow me down so I just want to do something so I can take the burden off my husband," she said.