RALPH BANWARIE
Toco/Sangre Grande MP Glenda Jennings-Smith yesterday visited 600-pound Marissa Nelson after learning about her plight in a series of T&T Guardian stories earlier this week.
Nelson, 32, suffers with lymphoedema, which has left her limbs enormously swollen and overweight. For the past four years Nelson has been confined to her bed because of her medical condition and weight.
Jennings-Smith said yesterday it was only after reading of Nelson’s plight in the Guardian newspaper she realised the ailing woman lives in her constituency and decided to visit her.
Jennings-Smith promised Nelson immediate help to address some of her needs, as well as follow-up visits.
Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh and Minister of Social Development and Family Services Cherry-Ann Crichlow-Cockburn also plan to visit Nelson at her Johnson Street, Valencia, home to see the conditions in which she lives.
Deyalsingh said he would have to “arrange a date and time” to meet Nelson, while Crichlow-Cockburn took up Nelson’s invitation.
“I am willing to visit her,” Crichlow-Cockburn wrote in response to a text message, but did not state when.
Nelson, on Thursday, made an appeal to Deyalsingh and Crichlow-Cockburn for assistance.
Among those who offered assistance after her story was published were DEHIX, an international charitable organisation; the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex; Pillars of Harmony; and members of the public.
“I want to see them not talk the talk, but walk the talk. It is left to be seen what will happen from here onwards,” Nelson said.
Yesterday, Nelson said she had a telephone conversation with Dennis Hicks, founder of DEHIX, who is based in the United States.
“Mr Hicks said he was in the process of speaking to some doctors abroad to help me get the gastric bypass surgery done. He also indicated that he would talk to some of the doctors in Trinidad to see what could be done here as well,” Nelson said.
Nelson said when she heard that Deyalsingh and Crichlow-Cockburn were willing to assist, she felt a renewed hope. Deyalsingh said his ministry was ready and willing to do all it could to help Nelson, while Crichlow-Cockburn said a caregiver could be provided for Nelson.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Nelson’s story was highlighted on the front page, where she called on the Government to intervene and provide specialist medical care, urgent medication and a 24-hour caregiver.
“I would like Minister Deyalsingh in particular to come and visit me at my home to see how I live and how I do everything on my bed so they can get a better idea of what I face on a daily basis.
“I don’t want them to take my word for it. I want them to witness it firsthand because what I go through is hell,” Nelson said.
Nelson relies on her 68-year-old mother, Sylvia, for assistance but she too is handicapped after one of her legs was amputated from complications with diabetes.
Told that both ministers were interested in visiting her, Nelson said she was thrilled by the news and is awaiting their arrival.