BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – TRAGEDY occurred at the Black San Bang-a-lang TDC Family Affair Carnival held on Saturday, April 7, at the Old Recreational Ground when a young man was injured at one of the activities.
Tavarez Fahie 14, of The Alley, Sandy Point, a third form student of the Charles E Mills Secondary School reportedly dived into a mud pit and injured his neck and it appears he is now paralyzed.
Now several caring persons of the Sandy Point community are seeking donations from the general public to aid with his expenses and to cover a much needed trip overseas.
The initiative was started by Charlene Warner and Marcia Duncan.
Warner explained that Fahie was a part of their team at the Family Affair.
She said that one of the activities involved a tarpaulin where persons had to run across it from one end to another, filling bottles with water.
She said the tarpaulin was slippery as it had soap on it and that Fahie managed to place second.
“After he completed the event soap went into his eye, so he decided to dive into the Mud Pit, and I guess he hit his head,” she said.
“He was not in the mud pit competition; he used the mud pit to recover or to remove the soap from in his eye. People felt he was doing the Mud Pit activity but that was not so.”
Warner said that a couple of guys observed him when he dived in and after a few minutes one of them decided to jump in to rescue him as they had not seen him resurface.
“He was under the water unconscious. When he was removed from the water and placed just outside by the Mud Pit on the ground, he was given assistance by EMS and persons from the Red Cross before the ambulance took him to JNF Hospital,” she said.
The incident was said to have occurred sometime between 5:35 p.m. and 5:45 p.m.
Warner also said that Fahie will have to travel overseas for a MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) which is a procedure used in hospitals to scan patients and determine the severity of certain injuries and perhaps in Fahie’s case if he has any chances of walking again.
“I just want to appeal to the general public to make a contribution in whatever small way they can - it could be a prayer, a five dollar, whatever it is we appreciate it, it can go a long way to assist in his recovery,” she said.
“We want to say thanks to the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis for their assistance thus far, and all those persons who have been contributing, once there’s life there’s hope.”
Warner and Duncan will be on Fort Street every day after 4:00 p.m. seeking funds with a sponsor sheet.
She said that there are also other persons who were a part of their team seeking funds and they can be contacted at the following numbers:
For Warner: 668-5931, 465-4311 (home) 465-1999 (work) and Duncan 663-0705 or 465-2551.
