BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - MARCH 21, 1987 was a fateful day for Roosevelt Howe; it was the day when one of his regular childhood escapades resulted in his left arm being amputated.
Today, the 38-year-old is a Fire Sub-Officer (FSO) attached to the St. Kitts-Nevis Fire and Rescue Services Department and executes his duties as well as any his counterparts.
Howe spoke with this publication about the incident which had cost him one of his limbs, recalling that it began with a routine “joyride” on the locomotive.
“It was on a Saturday...I was joyriding on the engine and I left the factory and went to Mansion and the ‘loco’ stopped and it put off all the trucks in Mansion, and when it was coming back up from the country I hopped it but I hopped between two carts. As a boy, you had to learn to catch the easiest one because it was moving fast. When I caught it and I hopped on and went between to climb up on the top, the loco jerked out at the same time and I lost my grip. I fell underneath it and it ran over me.”
Howe explained that he was somehow hooked to the cart and after being dragged some distance, he was left in a semiconscious state.
“After the ‘loco’ had passed and I somewhat caught myself, I got up and I realised what happened. I went down to the siding, there was a man there and I told him I needed help. He was sitting and couldn’t really see, so he asked me what happened to me. I told him my hand got cut off. A lady was coming down the hillside at the same time and that is when they called the ambulance...
“I was not feeling pain then. When I got to the hospital and I started coming to myself, I told one of the nurses what happened and she fainted. When I was really coming to myself I remember telling the nurses to put me to sleep because it will hurt me bad and that was it.”
Howe said he was twice taken to the operating room before regaining full consciousness on the following Tuesday afternoon.
“That was the beginning of a whole other adventure. I had to learn to do a lot of things. I spent three months, three weeks and four days in the hospital. To be honest, I don’t think it ever really hit me that I had one hand because my great-grandfather had one hand. I’m not too sure how he lost his hand. He died when I was five and I wasn’t really given the story.”
He recalled receiving visits from a number of individuals while in the hospital, but while he appreciated these, Howe admitted that he preferred if they did not harp on the fact that he had lost his hand. In his own words, “I wanted them to continue as if it didn’t happen.”
“Jennifer Hensley was my Grade Five teacher at Pasture School and she came and saw me and started to cry. She said I was the most disgusting but most helpful and smart child. I remember telling her that it didn't make sense to cry because it had already happened. She hugged me and started bringing school work there for me to do...
“Nurse Daniel was like a mother to me in the hospital. She came and always made sure I was comfortable. If she believed that I had something on my mind, she would say something to make me laugh or cheer me up. But I still missed my home environment. My family visited me in the hospital but it wasn’t the same as being home with my relatives.”
The amputation of his left arm was not the only result of the accident. Howe informed that his right knee was also damaged and he was wheelchair-bound for approximately three months following the incident.
“I couldn’t walk either. It was after the third month that I began walking and then the wheelchair was taken from me. That is when I discovered that they were holding me so long that my kneecap got some damage and they were seeing if it would have affected the entire foot and if they had to amputate it.”
Thankfully, it was unnecessary to amputate Howe’s leg and about three and a half months after the incident he returned home to what he describes as a welcome befitting an international artiste.
“When I got home you would think that it was an international artiste had arrived with all the greetings and cheers that the neighbours and villagers had...Life started from there.”
Part two of this brief series would explore Howe’s experiences in the classroom and the workplace as a differently-abled man and how he has adjusted to the lost of his limb.
