While most children are preparing to write their end of term examinations as they eagerly await the moment when they are free from school to enjoy their summer vacation, an eight-year-old boy remains bedridden and most likely anxious to run and play the way he once did.
The dashing young man before the life changing accident
Little Matthew Zaman was a pupil of the La Bonne Intention (LBI) Primary School before he met with an accident just in front of his home, which left him paralysed from his neck down. The child has not been able to utter a word since his accident and is unable to do anything for himself; something his mother, Bibi Shanaz Khan said he always loved doing.
He was struck by a minibus outside their Lot 20 Felicity, Railway Embankment, East Coast Demerara home on December 18, 2017, while he was playing.
The mother, who was almost brought to tears as she recalled the incident, said she was at work when she heard about her son’s tragedy and immediately rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital. She said to her horror, when she arrived there, her son was motionless.
Little Matthew sustained a fractured skull which resulted in swelling in the brain, damage to his lungs and injury to his spine which hinders his mobility. At just eight years old, the child’s life has come to a drastic point where he is unable to function like a normal child his age.
Breathing only with the help of tubes, due to the damage to his lungs, and feeding only through tubes as well, little Matthew has met a cruel fate. Recognising this, his mother said she quit her job as a domestic worker to care of her baby. Khan, a mother of eight, said she had no other option but to leave her job.
The child’s mother said this phase of their lives has become very challenging. Matthew’s dad does not play a role in his life after his parents separated when he was just two years old, so his mother is left to grapple with all the expenses of raising her children and caring for Matthew. Khan said she has a 26-year-old daughter, who assists her.
She said the driver of the minibus, who is scheduled for court, has offered help on several occasions as well.
The frustrated mother said after her son’s accident, she did not know what to do and had no idea how she would have managed. While little Matthew was still hospitalised, she said she tried to take a photograph of him so that his relatives could have seen his condition, but was instructed not to by the hospital’s staffers. She said she even had to go to the Hospital’s Public Relations Officer to sign a document saying that she would not publish the child’s picture while he was hospitalised for approximately two months at the nation’s premier medical facility.
After this phase, while still uncertain about who to turn to for help, the boy’s mother said she went to the Imam from a nearby Mosque who later sent someone to her home, whose heart immediately went out to her son.
Members of the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana has played a critical role in giving her a voice to get assistance for her son. As a result of the help she has received from the religious organisation, she said persons have been coming to her home, calling and messaging to give whatever support they can.
The distraught woman however said at this time of the year it aches her the most because her son would usually get decked out for the mosque in observance of Ramadan. “It tears my heart because sometimes I would sit down right by my window and see the little children passing going to church and it reminds me of how I used to dress him up too”. Almost in tears while still reflecting on her son’s active moments, she told Guyana Times that little Matthew used to suck his fingers and sometimes, with tears streaming down her face, she would put his fingers in his mouth just to get that glimpse of her active child again. Her son, she added, used to talk a lot and was very loving.
While he was still attending school, she explained that he used to sometimes come home without his lunch bag and pencils. She admitted that he was not fond of writing, but had an impressive memory with the undoubtable ability to learn. “I remember sometimes I would tell he a phone number and then like two or three days after if I ask him he can tell me. Even at the shop, he would go and would walk all the aisles to make sure he brings exactly what I told him I wanted,” Khan revisited.
The tired and emotional mother said she is unwilling to give up her fight and is hoping that the faith that she has can be enough to bring back her little boy. She said as she watches him every day, she prays for a miracle so that he can have a normal life again.
She said sometimes her baby does not sleep and just out of concern, she stays awake with him to ensure that he is taken care of properly. The tubes, she said, have to be monitored, since he can become infected by them; as such little Matthew is still being monitored by the Georgetown Public Hospital and being treated with the hope of becoming active again.
The child’s mother is seeking the public’s assistance as she continues the struggle to maintain her child. Persons who are desirous of donating whatever they can to the child’s mother can do so by contacting her on telephone number 659-6766.
