Just over eight years after a horrible minibus accident left Uttamkumar Isurdeen with a damaged spinal cord, the young father of one has refused to allow the unfortunate incident to confine him to a vegetative state.
At the time a construction worker and resident of Pomona, a small farming village on the picturesque Essequibo Coast, Isurdeen was returning home after a hard day’s work when tragedy struck on the Success, East Coast Demerara Public Road.
The impact was so strong that it knocked Isurdeen out cold.
When he regained conciousness, he found himself in the Georgetown Public Hospital, the country’s main referral hospital, located in the heart of the bustling City, in pain and in a confused state.

“I could hardly remember what happen. It was a horrible accident and though no one died, several suffered severe injuries. I learnt of what happened to me when I woke up in the Georgetown Public Hospital,” the young father related.
He was only 25 at the time and unable to walk and do most of his chores, Isurdeen’s life was flung into a state of disarray, but he never allowed despair to triumph over hope.
On being discharged from hospital, the young father sought therapy for his spinal injury and after a few months, he regained some motor sensation in the lower body but not enough to get him out of his wheelchair.

“Importantly, it helped me to move about. According to the doctors I have been to, upon examination, they told me that the vertebrae were crushed, disabling motor sensation to the brain and I have a 50/50 chance of walking again if I were to undergo corrective surgery. Unfortunately, in Guyana, we do not have the equipment to do these kinds of operations and to do it abroad is very expensive.”
Unable to seek treatment overseas, since his wife Sharon has become the family’s sole breadwinner, Isurdeen, who is one of some 50,000 differently-abled people in Guyana, has taken on new pursuits in life.

Today, he is an advocate for disabled people and is an inspiration to many of them.
“When life gives you lemon, you have to make lemonade [from it]. You must never give up and you must always have hope and trust in the Almighty. You can still be an inspiration to others through persistent effort,” he said in a soft tone and beamed as he held the hand of his wife, who was at his side.

Isurdeen is actively engaged in sports such as cricket, tennis, racing and basketball and is calling on the authorities in Guyana to have national competitions for differently-abled citizens to keep them mentally and physically occupied.
This, he said, will go a far way in helping this segment of the population fight off depression, diabetes, hypertension and other non-communicable diseases.
Even though Isurdeen does most of his chores without assistance, he said his wife, a teacher, has been his tower of strength.

She takes him practically everywhere she goes and does all she can to make him feel comfortable just like any abled person.
The pair met 10 years ago when Isurdeen was a supervisor at a rice mill at Vilvorden, Essequibo Coast. He met her one day while cycling through her village Hibernia, which is four villages from where he lives, to get to work.
From then, their relationship blossomed and a year after, they got married according to Hindu rites. But two years into their marriage, he got into the tragic accident two months after his son was born.

“It was a sad moment,” Sharon told Guyana Chronicle but noted that it did not put a damper on their happy relationship.
Happy couples are often healthy people and Sharon said if anything, the tragedy has brought them even closer together.

“We have ups and downs like any other relationships. I love my husband. Now he depend on me to be around him. I cannot stay away from him. When we were married, we swore to live with each other through the thick and thin periods of life and will live together until death,” she said with a humble smile.
Her kind words brought her husband to tears.