Paralysed fisherman seeks help

Laying on his bed in Pamphret, St Thomas, Winston Scott Jr greeted THE STAR team with a wide and welcoming smile.

The 26-year-old's spirit is bright, a contrast to what he has been through in the past five years. A close call with death in 2019 has left the former fisherman paralysed and bedridden. He currently lives in a broken-down, one-bedroom dwelling with his father Winston Scott Sr, who is his main caregiver. He said that while working and living in Majesty Gardens, St Andrew, he was stabbed in the neck during an altercation with a friend after an argument about a fence.

"It bore mi spinal cord. The last thing I heard when I get the stab was someone saying, 'Look how yuh kill off the people dem pickney,'" Scott Jr said. He said he spent approximately three weeks at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), where doctors told him that the chances of him walking again were slim.

"I laughed and a say the doctor didn't know what he was saying because I was feeling strong. My right hand couldn't move, so I did three months' therapy at Mona Rehab," he said. But if Scott Jr's cross was not yet too heavy, he broke his right leg two years later while returning from a hospital visit.

"I went to change my urine bag and while dem a put mi back in the car, my right foot break. My other leg was damaged due to the spinal cord injury. When mi foot break, mi didn't even know because I didn't have any feeling in it. It was when mi father and the driver hear the noise and a put mi down, dem realise mi foot a swing," Scott Jr said. Despite losing his independence, Scott Jr manages to keep upbeat by interacting with his followers on TikTok.

"Mi used to live nice and comfortable eno, because I was a diver and fisherman and mi used to make ends meet. It kinda stress mi sometimes, but it done happen already, so mi have to make myself feel happy. Mi nah make it tear mi down any more, so mi just always a smile," he said.

But his living conditions are extremely unsuitable. The partial board dwelling is attached to a shop operated by his father. Pieces of curtains are used as doors, and sections of the roof look like an accident waiting to happen. It appears as if a strong wind or heavy showers could easily cause the living space to crumble.

"It wasn't always like this, but an earthquake and Hurricane Beryl came and do it this way. Some people did come and look around and say we deserve a house, but mi nuh see dem come back yet. We use to have doors, but the breeze blow it down Mi nuh use to myself like this, so for a while mi hide mi self from the world," he said.

"Mi father help out a lot and find food, and sometimes him go chop coal wood. A mi father alone deh here a help mi, and him friend dem will take a change from him and carry mi go hospital; and a whole-day ting dat, eno," Scott Jr added. He said that his only wish is to go back to his former life.

"It was my work and sport, so I love it. I used to watch a lot of YouTube video with fishermen and divers, and dem ting deh help tear mi down sometimes. Sometimes when mi see some youth a do dem ting and mi can't do it any more.... A from mi a teenager mi a do fishing, eno," he said.

As he tries to catch a sale at his shop, Scott Sr keeps a close eye on his son throughout the interview. He said he is heartbroken by the damper that the spinal cord injury has placed on his life.

"All type a ting go through mi mind when I see my son like this. It hurts my heart, because I remember when some nights him use to get seizure and mi have to rush him to hospital," he said.

But the Scotts are in dire need of assistance, as apart from a relative who gives him liquor to sell, and another person who assists, they have no resources.

"Mi would just want a little push," he added.

Persons wishing to assist Winston Scott Jr may make donations to his Scotiabank savings account number #835696, or contact him at 876-839-3566.