DEVASTATING! - Farmer dies days after asking for help to walk again

Last Tuesday, Elvis Pollack, a farmer who was paralysed after falling from a coconut tree, spoke with THE STAR expressing his desire to have his life returned to normal.

"I want to get back on my feet because I don't want to lay down and let other people take care of me. I don't like that I can't do anything for myself, or that my family has to be worrying about me," Elvis said.

His family members had reached out to this newspaper seeking help to raise funds for his medical care. Howver, in a cruel twist of fate, Elvis died on Friday, hours before a planned visit by the news team to his home in Mocho, Clarendon.

His brother, Phillip Pollack, said the family is shocked, citing word from doctors that Elvis was "coming on".

"[It's] not only that he passed, [but] he passed when we thought he was coming out of the woods, so it send a shockwave around the family," Phillip told THE STAR.

"Week before last, he came back from hospital and they told us that from now on he would be good. He was coming on to the point where he was sitting up by himself. We see improvement, and he was putting on back his weight, so we thought everything would be alright," added Phillip.

He said that the family found hope in physiotherapy sessions that Elvis was undergoing. He believes, however, that cancellation of some sessions due to multiple hospital stays slowed down his brother's chances of recovery.

Elvis was in the process of picking coconut for a friend last October when he lost his balance and fell to the ground. The incident happened two days before the burial of his sister, Claire Pollack, 36, who died from cancer.

Elvis, 34, who lived in St Catherine, had only relocated to the north-central Clarendon community last Monday to stay with relatives, as his family tried to cut rent costs amid his mounting medical bills. His goats were also sold as his family struggled to stay afloat while footing his hefty healthcare costs.

Phillip said the situation was emotionally distressing for Elvis, an extrovert who was very adventurous.

"He's a guy that is free-spirited and loves to go on his own journey. He like to play his dominoes and he was not able to do that and he wanted to go back to St Catherine, so I know mentally that was a strain on him."

Elvis, who was paralysed from the waist down, spent four and a half months in hospital receiving treatment. Phillip said the family owes more than $1 million to the University Hospital of the West Indies for his medical care over the four-month period. Elvis' death has unearthed graver financial woes for his family. Phillip told THE STAR that the care of his father, who fell ill last year, and that his mother, who suffered a series of strokes, as well as the the funeral expenses for his sister, have dwindled his funds.

A campaign conducted via the crowd-funding website, GoFundMe, raised US$4,028 (approximately J$600,000) of a targeted US$6,000 (approximately J$900,000) to assist with Elvis' rehabilitation. Sadly, instead of focusing on medial expenses, the family now faces the heart-rending task of burying a second sibling in the space of five months.