RADIO PERSONALITY Vere Walcott considers himself a walking miracle.
He is much steadier on his feet now, and 95 per cent better than he was a year ago, when he was literally floored by a disease that raised its head in 2008.
What should have been a day of shopping with a friend while vacationing in Boston ended with Walcott in an emergency situation, which brought life-changing events.
According to what he was told, Walcott collapsed and had to be rushed to hospital. The diabetes he tried to deny, and the insulin injections he was fearful of taking, took their toll that fateful day and he was said to be “erratic”.
“A lot of things I was told, rather than witnessed myself. The diabetes, the reading, was among the highest they [the doctors] had ever seen,” Walcott told the SUNDAY SUN.
He was also found to be malnourished, which was a result of continually missing meals between news assignments and hosting a gospel programme at Starcom Network.
He was also in the habit of buying food and not eating it. The bad eating habits and untreated diabetes had also contributed to serious weight loss.
Somewhere between collapsing and being treated for three weeks in a Boston hospital, he suffered memory loss. He has since regained almost all of it.
Walcott said he was placed on different medications to stabilize him and he was also injected with insulin twice a day. He is still on that regimen but is hopeful that it will be reduced to one a day and, even though he has been told it cannot happen, he is looking to be off completely some day.
His diet had to be changed drastically and he is still trying to adjust to the “bland food” diabetics eat.
“One thing is sure and it’s a fact that God had a specific hand in my recovery because people knowing of the situation said I was lucky, but I used the word ‘blessed’,” he said, adding that the entire ordeal had deepened his relationship with God.
He came out of hospital and returned to Barbados in a wheelchair, unable to walk on his own. He required round-the-clock care, which was provided by his sister Pam, who is a nurse, at her house. Pam also played a key role in helping to rehabilitate him.
“One of the things that was very emotional to me was that I could not go back home. Could you imagine going to see your house shut up, and you cannot go in?” he said of his Mangrove, St Philip home, to which he has since returned.
The man who flew high in the skies to bring traffic reports as Charlie Bravo Charlie in the late 1980s and early ’90s, had to learn to walk all over again. He started off with a cane and got a few falls with premature attempts to abandon it. From a few weeks ago, he started walking strong without assistance, but still has to be careful on certain surfaces.
Walcott said there was never a doubt in his mind that he would recover from his ordeal. He said he had a certain peace about him, even when he was in hospital.
“I grew up as a Christian, so I had the favour of God to depend on. You see drama on television and people rushing around hospitals; and you see all the technology and stuff that they use, but then when you actually go through it, it’s a totally different experience,” he explained.
He said he was happy to have gone through this situation because he had to live through, by faith, what he had been encouraging people to do on his radio programmes for years.
That being said, Walcott becomes very emotional and his voice breaks when he talks about how his being ill changed the relationship he once enjoyed with teenage son Sheldon and younger daughter Veria. Veria no longer lives with him because he still cannot do a lot of the things he used to do before.
While he gives God all the glory, Walcott admits that the desire to be with his children was one of the drivers to his getting well.
The 62-year-old, who is still on “time-out” from his radio show, has made remarkable strides in the last month and was able to drive again from last week. He has also regained a “significant” amount of weight.
“It’s amazing what the body can do . . . . The strength of the inner man brings you through any sickness. The strength of the inner man is vital. The whole thing was a miracle from God,” he said.
As for what was next for him, Walcott said he was waiting for divine guidance. He did say radio was an option, however.
“I would continue in radio. It’s all I know.”
With Christmas two days away, he expects it to be different from last year. He will not be in Boston, to begin with, and all things being equal, he will be among family and friends and not in a hospital.
Having learnt his lesson the hard way, Walcott is encouraging people to pay attention to diabetes and the complications.
“Don’t be like me,” he urged.