Photos: US based Jamaican David "Squeeze" Annakie is pictured above while Falasha Fitz-Henley is pictured below the first ever recipient of the MCADF administered grant.
August 14-2012
Pedestrian car collision survivor Falasha Fitz-Henley has been chosen as the first ever recipient of the David Squeeze Annakie Prosthesis Grant, as administered by The Maia Chung Autism and Disabilities Foundation (MCADF).
Ms. Fitz-Henley received that grant this afternoon Tuesday August 14-2012 at the Kingston headquarters of The Maia Chung Autism and Disabilities Foundation.
Miss Fitz-Henley needs some 115-thousand dollars more for full acquisition of the prosthetic limb and the MCADF while disbursing the grant, made an appeal on her behalf to the national community to join in the effort to enable Miss Fitz-Henley to recover her life after being hit by a motor vehicle and rendered disabled.
Managing Director of the Foundation Maia Chung is appealing to all Jamaicans here and abroad to come aboard and help Ms. Fitz-Henley regain her very productive life by donating some monies, if it is within your ability to reach to the 200-thousand.
Meanwhile in addition to the grant the Non –profit Jamaican group the HALO Society which recently staged a fundraiser for the MCADF and netted 12-thousand dollars have agreed with the Foundation that this amount will go towards Ms. Fitz-Henley’s case.
The total being disbursed through the MCADF to the case is 62-thousand dollars while a Jamaican financial institution has pledged 20-thousand.
The confirmation of the 50-thousand dollar allocation was done on Friday July 20-2012.
The grant is currently comprised of 50-thousand dollars.
The decision to fund Ms. Fitz-Henley’s case was done after the board of the MCADF did deliberations on their neediest cases in this area.
The money goes to form part of the overall 200-thousand dollars the young woman needs to get her prosthetic leg.
The leg is an imperative for her full recovery and re-integration into society after a car collision while she was walking along the roadway - led to her receiving several injuries, one of which saw her eventually losing her leg to amputation.
The David Squeeze Annakie Prosthesis Grant is a new mechanism, of the MCADF which will be administered to clients of The Maia Chung Autism and Disabilities Foundation, in those cases of need- as it continues its work in the Autism and Disabilities communities of Jamaica.
The grant was devised a part of new raft of interventions into the disabilities community, after May 2012 of this year when Mr. Annakie upon hearing of the impending closure of the four year old Foundation, intervened and mobilized the Diaspora to raise funding to keep the organizations doors open and services going.
The MCADF services the poorest of the poor affected by Autism and other disabilities.
Mr. Annakie staged an All White Fundraiser in the United States, where he is based - over the US celebrated Memorial Day weekend …which netted just about one million Jamaican dollars; which has been broken up into paying for several dozen of Autism screenings, the establishment of a special needs computer lab, providing travel fare for disabled people to meet appointments and also that of settling outstanding accounts for those parents of disabled children who cannot work and are at risk of losing their homes and in cases have lost their utilities.
Ms. Fitz-Henley’s accident was horrific and she recounted it for the foundation.
She said, “Monday, March 8, 2008, four years, three months, eight days ago – I was walking along the sidewalk, when from the back I was hit by a speeding motorist. The impact tossed me airborne for twenty-one feet.
“I then smashed onto the asphalt, and the driver, still unable to come to a stop, drove over me. In the middle of the main road I lay semiconscious with a burst head, fractured skull, right broken a part shoulder, broken ribs, partially smashed off and broken left knee, doubly broken right knee smashed apart and broken, numerous wounds and lacerations, and my right leg which was ran over lie there in a queer angle with large minced and segmented portions of exposed bones.
“I was at the time a twenty-one years old first year, first degree university student, working a full time job and involved in numerous church, sports and voluntary activities and services.
“It took less than ten seconds and one driver’s misjudgment, one driver’s decision to speed, one driver’s choice to be reckless - - - one minute selfish act of dangerous driving and in less than ten seconds most of my bones were broken, my whole being shattered, my body wrecked, my life radically marred and completely changed forever.
“I lost complete consciousness and woke days later, absolutely drugged and astounded to find myself hooked up to numerous machines, with tubes and needles invading my whole body, my head, hands, legs banded and segments of my limbs screwed up with lengthy protruding nails and affixed to lengthy horizontal metallic poles.
“My entire body was crippled by very excruciating pain – no amount of pain-killing drugs brought any relief and I bitterly regretted regaining consciousness. Because of the fractures to my ribcage even the minutest silent act of breathing hurt severely - - - I did not want to be breathing, I did not want to be here”.
Ms. Chung said, ‘she now has a total of 82-thousand dollars and needs 118-thousand dollars please help us raise this by donating to us for this specific project. The foundation needs a constant influx of donations to survive as we are Non-Governmental and Non-Profit and so we need proactive well thinking people worldwide to help us help the marginalized as the official system is not yet structured to feed these imperatives”.
She adds,” Falasha was on the cusp of becoming one of the highest level of educated Jamaicans ready to do her part in society and had already begun so and through no fault of hers has been rendered disabled- we as a people need to focus on these things”.
The Maia Chung Autism and Disabilities Foundation can be contacted at mcautismfoundation@gmail.com
