Beyond the pain: ‘I’m in pain all time’ - Beverly Samuels speaks about her battle with sickle cell disease, wants help to do hip-replacement surgery

Fifty-six-year-old Beverly Samuels has lived in pain for most of her life. She suffers from sickle cell disease and often gets sore on her legs, fatigue and anemia, migraines and pains in her joints.

Samuels is only able to walk with the help of a walker. However, this could change if she does hip-replacement surgery. But, although the surgery is offered free in Jamaican, she still would need to find the money for the prosthetic hips needed to replace her hips, and she cannot afford this.

“The surgery is done here free of cost, but you have to buy the prosthetic. And that is about $500,000 for each hip. So you’re looking at close to a million dollars,” she said

“But I’d have to also pay to spend weeks in the hospital and all that would cost me too,” she added.

Samuels told THE STAR that because of her illness, she didn’t get to finish high school and so she wasn’t able to secure a good-paying job.

“I stopped very early from school. Other children would threaten to kick me and those things, so mi haffi stop mi way outta school. When I get much older, I try to look work and support myself, but I couldn’t get a decent job. I would just use to settle for anything, any likkle odd jobs,” she said.

And although she has a son, she said he alone would not be able to fund the prosthetics.

“If I get this opportunity to do this surgery, I know it would be good for me; I won’t have to be using the walker again. I’m in pain all time. I’m on meds, but it seems like it’s getting used to my body, because one time it work and a next time it doh work at all,” she said.

Persons willing to assist Samuels can contact her at 876-392-7160.