AFTER HER five-year-old daughter underwent life-changing surgery at the private Bayview Hospital on Thursday, a Barbudan mother can now attest to the fact that dreams come true and prayer works.
Sundaria Beazer’s daughter Shawana, born 34 weeks into the pregnancy, suffers from cerebral palsy (spastic diplegia) and is too weak to walk; she can only balance on her toes for a few seconds.
After examination in Barbados by orthopaedic surgeon Dr Jerry Thorne last September, the mother heard that her daughter could be operated on and eventually receive ankle-foot orthotics (AFO) – a reference to braces on the lower leg and foot to support the ankle, to hold the foot and ankle in the correct position and correct foot drop.
The end result would be the girl being “permanently plantigrade”, walking on the full sole of the foot.
After years of pushing her daughter around in a pram, the mother told the SUNDAY SUN at Grantley Adams International Airport, while waiting to leave the island, that the examination left her with much hope.
“I took her to the doctor in Antigua when I realized she had a problem and he said that she would outgrow the problem. I started to get worried. Then I found out that the problem couldn’t be corrected in Antigua, so I had to find another way,” she explained.
“I was stressed and I almost give up trying. Then I found that I could bring her here to get evaluated. We came here and Dr Thorne told me he could do the surgery.”
She went on: “I was trying to raise the money for the surgery on my own. I really did try. I try all sorts of things. I had cake sales, had basketball tournaments. But Barbuda is a very small place and raising funds over there is not easy; I only raised like EC$13 000 (BDS$9 629) which wasn’t nearly enough to do the surgery,” said Sundaria.
The mother said that at hat point in time the only thing left for her to do was to continue praying.
Her prayers were answered when she went out of her way to introduce her daughter to Adam Barrett, chief executive officer of Stanhope Shepherd, three weeks ago during the company’s Kite Spectacular at the Pink Sands beach bar in Barbuda.
“During that time Shawana’s mum had a letter delivered to us about Shawana and, to be honest, I just put it in my pocket and didn’t read it. Then in the afternoon I met Shawana and her mum and my son decided that we should help her. But when I read it, I was impressed with the letter because every single word was written in the neatest form and underlined with a pencil,” said Barrett’s father, Derek.
Last Sunday, Stanhope Shepherd, in conjunction with JHR Caribbean, organized a charity auction in Antigua, where just over US$20 000 (BDS$40 000) was raised. A real estate agent in Antigua, Jane Drysdale, who is the sister of local real estate agent Julie Dash, was the auctioneer.
Three days after the auction, the five-year-old, her mother and Derek flew into Barbados on the company’s private plane for the surgery.
“I am grateful to everybody who helped to make this surgery possible,” the mother said. “Anybody who knows what it’s like to be a mother would know the joy I am going through right now. The operation . . . went well. There were a [few] ups and downs but it went well. The surgery is done and I am very grateful.
“It feels like I lost 50 pounds. I feel like I lost the weight I was carrying on my shoulders. I feel much lighter and much more relieved,” said Sundaria, askingto be pinched “to let me know that the surgery really happened”.
Shawana is scheduled to return to Barbados in six weeks to have the cast removed. Derek said he, his son and those who contributed to the auction in Antigua promised to fully support Shawana’s journey to independence.
He said that after the work on her feet was finished, her eyes would be treated.
 “Shawana is like partly extended family now and if you are going to give something, see where your money is going and what it is doing,” Derek said.
“It wasn’t just us; we organized the auction and other people give money. I find that in the region there are not enough people giving to help the less fortunate like Shawana. To get, you have to give.”