It was an unusual but poignant moment during a solemn funeral service on a recent Saturday morning in Brooklyn.
And many of the hundreds of mourners in St Mark’s Episcopal Church seemed unsure about what to do next: should they smile, wipe a tear or accept the “aha” moment in silence.
The Rev. Dr Peter Bramble, a graduate of Barbados’ Codrington College and St Mark’s long-standing rector, delivered a homily and midway through it he said: “There is a woman in the church who is alive today because of Deborah. Had it not been for Dr Brathwaite, she wouldn’t be here today to say goodbye” to the physician/rehabilitation specialist whose body was in a draped casket up the church’s aisle.
“Our dear Deborah has set sail to another port,” the priest said.
“But she devoted her life on this earth to saving lives. She was a person of deep faith.”
At his urging the woman raised her hand so she could be recognized as living proof of Brathwaite’s skill and commitment as a specialist at Brooklyn’s Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Centre where she was a member of the faculty and coordinator in the hospital’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Dr O’Neall Parris, a prominent Long Island pediatrician who heads the Barbados Cancer Association USA (BACA), Inc., later put Bramble’s observations and Brathwaite’s career in perspective.
“Unlike primary specialties such as internal medicine, family practice or pediatrics in which the physician often has the satisfaction of seeing patients respond quickly to treatments such as antibiotics, or a surgeon who can often use the scalpel to provide a fairly speedy permanent cure, those who practise physical and rehabilitation medicine work on a different time scale as they try to restore disabled patients to maximum function,” explained Parris, the first president of the Caribbean American Medical & Scientific Association, CAMSA.
“It may take weeks, months and even years to achieve gains ranging from minimal to full restoration of function.
“Therefore it takes a special kind of person, a special kind of physician to address such needs – a physician with patience, kindness, commitment, compassion and dedication.
“Such a physician was Dr Brathwaite, whose professional life gave hope to the physically disabled. What a wonderful legacy.”
But there was more to Brathwaite, who grew up in St Philip, attended Princess Margaret Secondary School and received her medical training at Ohio State University School of Medicine, than just being a top-notch rehab specialist.
She was a mover and shaker in the movement to educate Bajans and other Caribbean immigrants about the importance of early detection and treatment of cancer.
“When we were planning to raise funds in New York to help finance additional services for cancer patients in Barbados, Dr Brathwaite was an eager and committed supporter who helped to form BACA,” explained Lennox Price, Barbados’ Consul-General in New York.
George Griffith, executive director of the Barbados Family Planning Association and a former consul general in The City, recalled the creation of BACA, which is now spearheading an effort to establish a hospice in Barbados.
“She was always there, working, giving of her time,” he said.
Jessica Odle-Baril, Griffith’s successor as consul general, had a similar experience.
“She worked hard to organize the annual BACA cancer symposium and fund-raising benefit whose proceeds went and are still going to cancer awareness in and [outside] Barbados,” said Odle-Baril.
Just last summer, in her multiple roles as CAMSA’s president, founder of BACA, and cancer awareness advocate, Brathwaite worked to organize a one-day cancer symposium in Brooklyn that examined the disease’s impact on Barbadians and Americans.
An oncologist from Barbados, specialists from New York and cancer survivors participated in the lively session.
How ironic, then, that breast cancer, which she battled without fanfare, was the cause of her death at the age of 52.
But the most eloquent tribute was delivered by Brathwaite’s daughter Sharifa Dickenson, who spoke about her mother’s strong faith in God which she reaffirmed once again on her deathbed, hours after doctors had told her she had less than a day to live.
“The doctors told her that there was nothing more they could do for her but she didn’t want to burden anyone with information about her illness and asked those who would mourn to release her,” Sharifa explained
“In my long career, I never heard a daughter speak so eloquently about a mother,” said Father Bramble.
Brathwaite is survived by her mother Wilma Brathwaite, grandmother Deanis Brathwaite, 108, sisters Sandra Agard, Gail and Sherrell Brathwaite, brother Michael Brathwaite and a long list of other relatives and colleagues.
