Teacher injured in community outreach match in need of help

Morant Bay High School in St Thomas is on a mission to raise funds to support the knee surgery of one of their teachers, who was injured during an outreach football match.

Orrette McDowell, a religious education and visual arts teacher at the school, sustained severe damage to all four ligaments in his left knee in October, forcing him off the job for more than a month.

"I was playing an outreach football match against the Morant Bay police officers. During the second half of the game, I went on and I had a slight tackle, nothing major, but I twisted my foot and slid, then I heard a pop and my foot instantly became swollen," the teacher said.

He said that the football games are used by the police to help build a better relationship between citizens and law-enforcement officers.

McDowell told THE STAR that both X-ray images and MRI scans showed that he suffered serious ligament damage in his knee. He has been unable to walk properly since the injury, and is now faced with the task of coming up with at least $800,000 as he embarks on his road to recovery.

He said that one doctor said that a more advanced procedure could cost up to $1.3 million. However, being strapped for cash, he has conditioned his mind to doing the less expensive procedure.

"He told me that instead of getting rid of the ACL (an anterior cruciate ligament), he would perform an arthroscopic surgery, which would see him inserting a camera in the knee to see what needs to be done, and if the ligament can be saved," the teacher said.

With his health insurance company, Sagicor, paying half of his medical bill, the teacher said he is left to come up approximately $400,000 in the next few days to have the surgery done.

The staff at Morant Bay High School have embarked on a mission to assist. They will be staging a benefit concert this Friday, December 13, to raise funds to assist the teacher.

According to McDowell, "The concert wasn't my idea but I'm grateful because it kinda sticky. I should have done the procedure already but because the money isn't there I wasn't able to do it."

The likes of like Ruption, Prophecy, Skillibeng have been confirmed to perform at the concert, and McDowell is hoping that "more established artistes could pass through to support the cause as more people would be willing to attend".

The entry fee is $500.