‘It’s rough on my side’

Life changed dramatically seven months ago for peanut farmer Edward Box after his right leg was amputated and he lost sight in his right eye.

The 62-year-old has had type-II diabetes for the past 21 years, but ended up losing his right leg after he got a cut on it while working on his farm.

Cuts pose a significant risk if they are not detected and treated promptly in persons with diabetes.

Around that same time, he said he developed diabetic retinopathy, which is caused by high blood sugar levels damaging the back of the eye, and lost sight in his right eye.

The sudden change in his way of life caused psychological struggles, especially since, over the years, he had ensured that he was doing what was required to manage his illness.

“It neva used to attack mi more than so, because mi always tek mi pill. When mi go doctor and doctor give mi pill, mi always tek it, but a since lately when di stress pon mi ya now…it just kinda affect mi more,” he said.

The latest data from the Ministry of Health and Wellness shows that more than 230,000 Jamaicans were diagnosed with diabetes in 2017. Of that number, males age 25 to 35 represented 5.3 per cent, while those in the 15 to 24 age group accounted for 1.5 per cent.

Now confined to a wheelchair at his home in New River, St Elizabeth, Box is facing the possibility of going totally blind as he is losing sight in his left eye as well.

“It’s rough, it’s rough on my side,” he said. “Sometime yuh want give up, but yuh haffi tell yuhself seh yuh cya give up.”

He lives with his two sons, a 15-year-old student at Magotty High School and a 19-year-old, who also has had a leg amputated. He said the boys’ mother, who lives overseas, sends money to take care of the children but, for the most part, he is on his own financially.

This is especially distressing, as he has been recommended to do tests that he said could end up saving his sight.

He said his doctors had recommended corneal scraping, but at a cost of about $150,000, Box said he has no way of getting the funds.

“Mi not even know who fi go to, mi a tell yuh di truth,” he said.

“Mi cya manage di grung ya now, and mi nuh have the money fi hire the workman fi do the job, or the tracker to plough the land, and suh,” he said of his once thriving two-acre property, where he worked alongside another farmer.

His concern is further exacerbated as, without any income, he is unable to maintain a proper diet.

“I don’t have what to eat. The doctor would tell me what to eat, and I can’t go to it. Roughly ‘bout four, five months now, what I’m eating is not weh mi fi eat; all I’m eating is just flour and rice, and I’m not supposed to eat all of that,” he said.

The mental strain of this has even caused him to be losing sleep, Box said. However, he is still trying to be optimistic that he will receive help that will change the course of his life.

“Anyhow mi have money mi coulda still do farming, but if mi get di peanut and plant it mi can able fi get di money fi do the eye,” he said.

Anyone willing to assist Box can reach out to him at 876-834-2000.