Mother’s Day heartbreak - Mom left with empty arms and broken heart

While mothers across the globe are making special plans on how to celebrate Mother's Day this Sunday, Kenesha Webley says she may go into "hiding".

The occasion is usually a very memorable one for the Kingston woman, but in March, Webley's only child, Cornell Hall, passed away at the University Hospital of the West Indies following surgery.

"I really don't know what I will do, but I know it is going to be a very difficult day. In previous years we would go to church, sometimes the park, and I remember one year we went to Hanover. We would just do something. Oh Jesus, this Sunday is going to be hard," she said.

"I went into Bashco to purchase a picture frame for one of his pictures and I saw the Mother's Day stuff, and for a moment, I just say to myself that's its not for me any more. Persons will say once a mother always a mother, but the day is going to be very sad," she added.

Hall, a 16-year-old student, was anticipating returning to the football field with his peers, even as he prepared for Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations. He had to do tibia reconstruction, a surgical procedure often performed to treat bone tumours or fractures. Webley said although Cornell had sickle cell, he was in good health, hence the reason why he was cleared for surgery. However, he passed away hours after the operation.

Webley said she is still in her late son's school text group, and offers his classmates best wishes on their exams. She laments that instead of prepping for his graduation, she is now tasked with the burden of putting things in place for his funeral on May 25.

"My son was supposed to sit six subjects, and now I would be seeing the messages of just the teachers and parents preparing. I am seeing the notifications about Saturday classes and SBAs (school-based assessments) and other little notes and I am like, 'Wow.' I message them and tell them good luck on their exams, but I feel sad because my son is not there. If he were here he would be preparing for graduation pictures and graduation, but that will never happen," she said.

Webley said that sometimes, as she watches children return home from school, she checks the time and wonders where Cornell is. But, seconds later, the harsh reality hits that the youngster's body is currently stored in a parlour's refrigerator.

"Certain times when he is supposed to come from school, I am listening to hear him call mi or the door open. Even recently, my sister and I saw a lot of mangoes on the ground from her tree and we were saying that Cornell is really not here, because they wouldn't even get a chance to fall from the tree. All of this just makes me really unhappy," she said.

- S.M.L.