A MOTHER is keeping her fingers crossed as she looks to the Almighty for a miracle in the form of a successful operation for her only son, expecting to undergo double kidney transplant tomorrow at the Balwant Singh Hospital.

Dawn Handley of 58 David Street, Kitty, Georgetown, a domestic, disclosed that her only child, 20-year-old Akeem Greene, will be undergoing the surgery following years of dialysis treatment for his ailment.
She said he has been suffering with the ailment for years, but surgery had been delayed while she ensured that everything was in place to ensure a smooth operation, including finance to pay for it and availability of doctors to do it.
Ms. Handley said Akeem’s surgery costs Gy$4M and entails transplanting both of his kidneys.
She reminisced on how hard life had been on Akeem, and by extension for her. She spoke of the many times he had felt very ill, especially when he exerted himself. She described his episodes of feeling well as tenuous, saying that “at the drop of a hat” his feeling of sickness would return.
Last Friday Radio’s Needy Children Fund (RNCF), the charitable arm of the National Communications Network Inc., presented Ms Handley with an undisclosed amount of money in form of a cheque to assist in paying the bill for her son’s operation tomorrow.
Responding, Ms Handley expressed much gratitude to the organisation and its members for the timely gift. She said she had also been receiving donations from various persons, and is aware that each contribution will go a far way in assisting her son; therefore, she is thankful for each donation, regardless of the value.
Akeem Greene aspires to pursue doctoral studies in the field of medicine one day. For now, his hope is to have successful surgery, and “to be back on his feet again”.
Ms Handley recalled her encounter with the RNCF, when a representative had called to convey the heart- warming news that the charity had some assistance for her. She said she received a call from a female, who disclosed she was calling from the Radio’s Needy Children Fund. The caller informed her that the charity had a cheque it would like to give her to assist her in this time of need. She said she immediately began to sing praise to the Almighty.
Michael Gordon, Chief Executive Officer of the National Communications Network and Chairman of the Radio’s Needy Children Fund, said that following fifty-odd years of the RNCF’s existence, the organisation recently broadened its mandate to better serve the needy of the country in areas it really did not focus on previously. He deemed it an honour for the RNCF to assist this mother and her only child; and reminded that the RNCF is a servant of the people, and will continue to respond to genuine cases of need, once approached.
Gordon said that medical and scholarship assistance are just two of the areas that the extended mandate of the RNCF would address.
The Radio’s Needy Children Fund will soon be taking its annual Christmas cheer to communities across the country as the season of giving nears. The charitable organisation recently took its volunteers into the community of Tiger Bay, in Georgetown, to distribute several care packages and other items to persons, as members interacted with residents of that community.
Gordon said the momentum and energy of volunteers of the RNCF body comes from the responses they receive in reaching out to those in need.
The RNCF was founded by a former radio broadcaster more than three decades ago.