Farewell, Delroy! - Son reflects as tumour returns after surgery to take down his father

In June 2022, THE STAR team observed an awake Axiem image-guided brain surgery to remove a large tumour from the head of the then 62-year-old Clarendon butcher Delroy Ricketts. After what seemed like a successful operation, Ricketts returned home to start the process of returning to his life.

Now nine months later, Ricketts' son David says his father passed away on Sunday morning.

The pair were given the news that the elder Ricketts' brain tumour returned last December, after being admitted in the May Pen Hospital for symptoms similar to those they noticed prior to his operation.

David explained: "He was there from December to February 14. Him spend a long, long time in hospital 'cause him take sick from like the 12th of December."

After being transferred to Andrews Memorial Hospital on Hope Road in St Andrew for another tumour re-section, David says he was given the devastating news that there was nothing else that could be done.

"Him (doctor) seh to me, 'David, your father is not going to come back because the tumour deh way down inna him brain, so him nah go recover.'"

David said after hearing that news he was at a loss for words. As if in defiance of the inevitable, David continued to care for his father. While he was still in hospital, he travelled to Kingston from Clarendon daily to be with him. The day before he died David also spent over $35,000 in groceries and supplies for his dad.

Though struggling to cope with the pain of losing a father, he says he is just happy that his father is no longer in pain.

"Mi sorry seh mi father haffi guh like that, but mi glad seh him gone still, 'cause him did a suffer. Him never did a talk, him never did a eat, a through him nose them did a feed him. Him never did a move or anything like that," he related.

In the midst of his grief, David said he was often laughed at due to the celebrity treatment his father received following his feature in THE STAR.

He said after his new doctor recognised them, he would often boast that Ricketts was his patient.

"All along him a talk to me, him never know seh a me, enuh. A after him seh to me seh, 'But I know you, I know your voice. You did deh pon the media.'"

He continued: "Like it was a bid deal for him. Like dem take it make a big thing."

Reflecting on the entire journey, David told THE WEEKEND STAR that ultimately he is just grateful his father's suffering has ended.

"God know yah, make him gwaan, 'cause me never want him suffer no more," he said.

He is hopeful to have the funeral for Delroy on April 1.