By Clestine Juan

A LEONORA Primary School teacher is in desperate need of help for treatment and recovery after suffering a major stroke in July.

Shakeela “Dolly” Babe, 41, during the summer break of school in July left Guyana to attend her niece’s wedding in Canada with her family.

However, a few days before the wedding celebration, she began experiencing severe headaches and loss of vision which prompted the family to call 911.

Before the ambulance could have arrived, Dolly was incoherent and unable to move her limbs. She was taken to Sunnybrook Hospital in an unconscious state and after several tests the doctors revealed that the woman suffered a major stroke.

The teacher was not responding to medication and her brain continued to swell and after spending a few days in the emergency room, she showed no signs of improvement. Doctors found a severe blood clot in her brain, as well as a few in her chest. The clots caused nerve damage to the right side of her brain which paralysed the left side of her body; she is unable to walk.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, the woman’s nephew, Krishal Ramesh explained that his aunt had to undergo a decompressive craniectomy, a neurosurgical procedure in which part of the skull is removed to allow a swelling brain to expand without being squeezed.

Ramesh further explained that since his aunt’s surgery, she is still unable to move the left side of her body, and is not able to speak coherently while the brain continues to swell.

“She’s responsive and remembers everything but as you may expect, she is having a difficult time living her life without the ability to move her left leg or arm,” the nephew pointed out.

“The inability to move one side of her body also made it impossible to eat. She was then given a feeding tube where liquid food was pumped directly into her stomach,” he added.

Teacher Babe was discharged from the Canadian hospital on August 30th in an effort to reduce her medical bills and was taken back to her family’s home. She is scheduled to go under the knife again in October for replacement surgery.

According to Ramesh, his aunt is not medically insured and her treatment in Canada racked up a medical bill totaling over Cdn $120,000 for two hospitals.

In addition, she requires physiotherapy at home to help her learn to regain possible movement, which costs about US$100 per week.Babe, who has been a teacher for the past 15 years, had planned to start her master’s degree this September and had plans to teach in Canada.

“She is one of the most loving and caring people I know and has only lived her life with the intention to spread love… It breaks my heart to see her in this state, and I cannot begin to imagine the pain both emotionally and physically she is forced to endure,” the nephew continued.

When question about whether his aunt will be returning to Guyana, Ramesh explained that she will return once she makes a full recovery.

Babe’s relatives is appealing to members of the public to give generously and help save her life. Anyone willing to assist her can contact Ramesh on telephone number 416-301-2400 in Canada or Farida Jonas on +529-667-4917 in Guyana.

Persons can also donate money at https://www.gofundme.com/helpdollyrecover or email krishalr@yahoo.com.