By Telesha Ramnarine

WHAT Leon Dameon Cummings calls a “freak” accident in his mother’s womb, where the umbilical cord somehow got wrapped around his hands, was responsible for him being born without his lower arms and some fingers.

But Leon, 26, a local entertainer, can still write perfectly thanks to an upstairs neighbour, Ms. Constance Welcome Barker, who spent some time with him each day before she left for work, teaching him to write.
Leon now feels that there is nothing that he cannot do with his hands; he just has to brainstorm a way to do the task differently. Above all, he chooses to focus on the positive side to everything, even taking up acting to help others laugh and get rid of their blues.
His father, Mr. Linden Berkley Cummings (now deceased), was also a funny guy who always wanted to make his family laugh. “My father was very funny and did a lot of voices to make us laugh. Some things just rub off on you I guess, because I too was funny in school and I just like making people laugh. I don’t like to see people, especially girls, crying; and I like to entertain people,” Leon told the Chronicle in an interview recently.
Leon was born and raised in Georgetown and he attended Enterprise Nursery and Primary Schools in Lodge, before moving on to South Ruimveldt Secondary. He then attended the Government Technical Institute to pursue a diploma in Commerce.
When he joined the Theatre Guild, he did so out of boredom after finishing school; he never thought he would someday enjoy being an entertainer. He recalled that there was a Church of Christ concert that a cousin encouraged him to participate in and he sought Shellon Benjamin’s permission to perform her poem, titled “Satan in Heaven.”
“The poem was about what life would be like for Satan if he lived in heaven. Going there, I found out the requirements for joining the Theatre Guild and I never looked back ever since.

“The pastor at Church of Christ instrumental Jeffrery Tasher married my cousin Destini Martin-Tasher and she, along with my other cousin, Latoya Martin, and my sister, Leanna Cummings, encouraged me to take part in the concert and helped me rehearse the poem to perfection. So I owe the beginning to those three.”
It was while at Theatre Guild that he met Jennifer Thomas whom he credits with teaching him everything in the entertainment industry. “Jennifer Thomas who taught me every single thing in theatre and she is basically the reason I am here where I am. She treated me like a son, like a friend. She’s been there for me all the time.”
What drew Leon to Ms. Thomas was that she didn’t pity him but assigned tasks to him that she would assign to anyone else. “There was a big wooden chair outside and she told me to pick it up and bring it inside. Nobody ever did that to me before. She didn’t let me

get away with anything. That was the first time that a stranger ever did that to me so I was interested to see how else she would deal with me.”
The next day, Ms. Thomas asked Leon to pick up a ladder and throw it over a wall. “That’s how our relationship got close. She never got annoyed with me, and she always answered all of my questions.”
Ms. Thomas was the first stranger to treat Leon in this way, and he greatly appreciated it. “Thanks to my parents, I never had that spirit of depending on people. The way they dealt with me is that I had to go after everything I wanted. Everything I ever wanted to went after it and got it. It doesn’t pose a challenge to me. I can do everything. I don’t like pity period.”
But Leon does not regret that his hands are in this condition. “It’s been a stepping stone for me. It has humbled me. It has caused me to think. It has helped me to become very resilient and to always see a way out of every situation. So I never look at the negative side of anything, no matter what it is. I have always gotten through it.”
Explaining what happened with his hands, Leon said: “It was the umbilical cord wrapped around my hands. It is very rare. Probably it had to do with how my mother moved that caused the cord to move a certain way. This resulted in a lack of growth and development of my hands. This doesn’t happen a lot. So I would say I am the lucky one. The doctor told me this is extremely rare; it doesn’t happen. It’s like what you would call a freak accident.”

First Lead Role
In 2012, Leon had the opportunity to play the lead role in a play called, “To Sir with Love.” He decided to accept the part because it meant he would have to play the role of a teacher, an occupation that his dad had preferred him to pursue.
Sadly, a short time before the play, Leon’s relatives called to inform him that his dad had died in hospital. “That was extremely devastating, but I blanked out everything and I finished the play. At the curtain call, I broke down; I couldn’t hold it in anymore. My dad was at all of my plays and at curtain call I would always go out and see him. But for that curtain call, he was not there.”
Leon’s goals include becoming a producer and a director someday as he is hoping to be able to give back.
A few of Leon’s favourite artistes are Gerard Gilkes, Henry Rodney, Mark Luke Edwards, Michael Ignatius, Chris Gopaul, ‘Jumbie’ Jones, Abigail Brower, Kimberly Fernandes, and Nicola Moonsammy.
Leon said he grew up in church and prays before each performance.