Hanover couple seeks assistance for surgery

GREENLAND, Hanover:Gem Cunningham-James, a 55-year-old woman of Greenland, Hanover, and her husband are seeking help to raise $500,000 to pay for her open-heart surgery.

Cunningham-James was diagnosed with a heart condition last year after receiving treatment for asthma for about two years. It was subsequently discovered that two of the valves in her heart are blocked. The surgery will either replace the valves, or clear them so that the blood can flow freely.

"It affect my liver, so mi swell up sometimes and can't walk," she explains. "Sometimes I can't pass my urine or my stool, and if I try to walk up a hill or up a step, I get tired. I even get tired by normal walking," she told Western Focus.

"Even if me get up in the night to go to the bathroom, mi get tired."

The surgery can be performed locally at the University Hospital of the West Indies in St Andrew, but Cunningham-James does not have the financial resources. Her husband, Donald, lost his job at the Jockey Factory in Sandy Bay, Hanover, when the company ceased operations.

Still working as a tailor, James is not attracting sufficient business.

"I get a few pants foot now, but that is not enough," he said. "Mi wash, and cook, and clean because she can't do anything."

The Jameses, who have been living together for 20 years, were married 12 years ago.

Want back normal life

Cunningham-James says she spends a lot of time hospitalised and needs the surgery to get her life back to normal.

"The doctor say if I do the surgery, my normal life will come back, but if I don't, I will be on medication until mi dead," she shared.

The couple has opened an account to collect funds for the surgery. The account number is 754 112 743 at the National Commercial Bank's Lucea branch in Hanover.

Cunningham-James stressed that she has no access to the funds that are lodged to this account. "When the money goes to the bank, I will have no dealings with it. It will be transferred to the hospital."