THE New Year celebration for a single mother ended abruptly after a squib (fire cracker) was thrown in her direction, resulting in damage to her left eye.
After experiencing a roller coaster of emotion, including depression, 31-year-old Jerilene James, of Lot 203 Courtland Road, Corentyne, Berbice, is attempting to adjust to her new situation.

“It’s a challenge,” she admitted.
“I am trying not to be burdened down with depression. I was not eating. I could not sleep. I have two children to care for. Just seeing in one eye affects my coordination. I, sometimes, stumble. I am not supposed to face heat but I have to cook. I live alone with my daughters, aged eleven and one year,” she related.
Hours into the New Year, James, in company with friends, was celebrating  2013 in the vicinity of Candy Shop, a popular hangout at Strand and Pitt Street, New Amsterdam, when, between 07:30hrs and 08:00hrs, after seeing revellers light squibs, she felt a burning sensation to her left eye, then blood flowed from the wound.
She said she paid no heed to those lighting the prohibited explosives as the thought did not occur to her that something may have gone wrong.

UNCONSCIOUS
But she became unconscious, afterwards. James confessed: “I do not recall who took me to the New Amsterdam Hospital. I was taken to the operation theatre. I stayed in hospital for several days and received eyedrops and dressing.”
It was she who told the doctor she had to go home, as school was reopening and she had to send off her daughter who is preparing for National Grade Six examinations.
“I, eventually, took my discharge,” she said.
Despite her decision, James is of the opinion that the ophthalmologist took an oath to preserve health and should not have refused to give her medical attention after she had sought same at the eye clinic a few days after she left hospital.
She claimed that she went to the clinic and, after waiting for more than an hour, it was her turn to see the doctor but he refused to see her.
James said she explained the reason for taking her discharge, as her eighty-five-year-old grandmother, who lived in another section of Courtland Village, was unable to keep her children and her daughter had to go to school.
James alleged that the medical practitioner told her she should have thought of all those things before going out and suffering such an injury.
“It is not his place to judge me. His place is to administer medical assistance, irrespective of my decision. I plan to file a formal complaint to the Ministry of Health,” the woman said.

INFECTED
Meanwhile, after being refused a medical evaluation, at New Amsterdam Hospital, she visited Port Mourant Ophthalmology Centre where she obtained the medication as the damaged eye had become infected.
Health officials at the Corentyne clinic stated that the bandages over the eye should have been removed daily.
James said she visited private ophthalmologists and one of them advised that, if she had come earlier, her sight in the injured eye may have been restored.
“I am not seeing from the eye as it is sutured. However, I am optimistic that my vision will return, even if it is limited,” she stated.
Meanwhile, James said the person who threw the explosive has not been caught, despite her submission of a statement whilst in hospital.
However, a source close to the investigation disclosed that the investigators are waiting for James to visit the Central Police Station to identify the culprit.