Fundraiser to be held tonight
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - HIS parents watched with much pain written on their faces but hope in their hearts, as the nurse changed the night drainage bag attached to the left side of his bed where he laid unable to move the lower part of his body.
He is 26-year-old Dion Berry of Keys Village who is currently being nursed at the Joseph N. France General Hospital following an unfortunate diving accident on Sunday, March 3, 2013 that fractured his spinal cord.
To rectify his condition, Berry needs urgent medical treatment in Trinidad, which will cost him approximately US$8 5000.
In an effort to achieve that amount of money, a fundraising event dubbed ‘CONKARA’ will be held tonight (Mar. 23) at Atlantic 7 Club, formally Club NV, in Keys Village.
Entertainment will be provided by Sweet Sister Sensia, Unstoppable Chalice, Leverage Sounds, Outlaw Sounds, Inna Hytes Sounds and Illitunt Sounds.
The fundraiser is scheduled to begin from 10:00 p.m. and admission is only EC$10.
Berry is expected to have an MRI and other tests done before undergoing spinal surgery.
Air ambulance service will be provided by Jet Budget out of St. Maarten, and once the money is secured for surgery he will be immediately flown to Trinidad.
Persons desirous of contributing to Dion Berry’s Medical Fund can do so by visiting http://janelleberry.com/dion.html.
Reportedly, at around 2:00 p.m. on Mar. 3, the unfortunate incident occurred while Berry and other family members were having a birthday party at Major’s Bay in the South East Peninsula.
SKNVibes visited the high-spirited young man on Thursday afternoon (Mar. 21) and, despite his obvious condition, he displayed an optimistic attitude that indicating that he would soon walk again.
Recalling what happened on that unforgettable day when Destiny, his 10-year-old sister, rescued him, Berry said, “I was actually just on the beach because I went to attend a little birthday party my sister was keeping for her daughter. I was on the beach sitting down with the kids and they were having a lil competition to see who could dig the deepest hole. I was there just loosing out my hair to go in the sea. When I was finished, I ran off and dove into the sea and that's when I butted up my head on the sand. I was in there for a while just was trying to move but nothing was operating...just swallowing water. And my little sister, she ran in and turned me over.”
Berry said he would always be grateful to his little sister.
“I say thanks to her all the time. She's my little angel.”
This media house understands that after the little did not see her brother, she went looking for him, found him submerged and pulled him out of the water.
Speaking with Berry, he shared that recently he has been getting tingling sensations in his lower body.
According to him, “day by day” he gets these feelings.
He pointed out that at first it started in his left foot then ankle. Next was the sole of his right foot, then the ankle followed by his left leg from his calf to his knee right to his waist. A similar sequence of movements continued in his left leg.
For him, when touched, the sensation does not exactly feel like a touch but rather "more like a shock. But I could tell where...even which toe".
Berry said the “last region” was his chest area in which he felt the shock-like tingle.
Although, he can move his hands, he is unable to feed himself because of uncontrollable shaking when he holds the utensil.
This media house also spoke to his parents, Dion ‘Bruce’ and Victoria ‘Vicki’ Berry.
“It's not easy! Number one, you know the saying, 'Once a man twice a child.' That's how the situation is right now. It's not very easy at all, but I'll like to say to the public out there, try to get all your things in place so that you don't have to go through this kind of problem in the future if anything happens,” his father said.
His mom Vicki, while sharing her thoughts at first, emotionally halted at one point, as she looked at her son.
“I want to thank God for sparing his life at least. For sure, we can be here and we can be together and it's a good situation. But at least we can see him and we can talk to him, and for that I’m very grateful.”
She thanked her family members, friends and members of the community for visiting him at the hospital and giving their support.
“We need your prayer and financial support through all of this,” she appealed.
Asked how close the family is to raising the much need funds, the father said, “We're almost on target seeing that we had to go to the bank do some mortgages on properties and so forth, so we got the bulk of it from the bank actually.
“NAGICO Insurances made a contribution towards the situation; we do a lot of business with them. We have a daughter working there on internship so they heard about everything and decided that they would like to make a contribution.”
Bruce said the air ambulance to Trinidad “is quite costly”.
“The airlift company...we’ve contacted them directly. We are paying them directly. So whatever funds we accumulate with what we have from the bank, we would deal with that and the hospital.”
Two other fundraisers were held; one in the form of a Beach Bash which was promoted by the St. Kitts Sailing School on Reggae Beach last weekend, and the other, a Sunset Catamaran Trip onboard the Leeward Island Charters, Spirit of St. Kitts vessel, on Monday (Mar. 18).
Commenting on the success of the two events, Bruce said, “The events have been good. People are quite responsive and willing to contribute whatever they can. Every little bit counts.”
This is not the first time that Berry has experienced a close encounter with death. Most people would remember that he survived a gunshot wound in January 2007.
On July 10, 2008, Lumumba Matthew and Justin Bass of Lower Monkey Hill, St. Peter’s were jointly convicted of murdering and attempting to murder brothers Darren Berry and Dion Berry of Keys Village respectively.
Both men are currently serving life imprisonment at the Her Majesty’s Prison.
Reportedly, the Berry brothers were travelling through Bayfords in St. Peter’s in their vehicle, which was driven by Dion, when they were ambushed with gunfire that came from both sides of the road.
