Paralyzed Man Makes His Living Playing Your Music
Life can be hard on the average person who is struggling to make ends meet or to find the job they’d like in a fiercely competitive world. But one man who was violently struck down during a jealous rage says you can do whatever you put your mind to if you have the drive to get it done. Forty-year-old Kareem Wright shared his life story with News Five today and showed us that even though he is unable to walk after his spinal column was shattered by a bullet, he is the disc jockey he has always wanted to be. We’ve featured him before in June 2008, when he had no means of income and he suffered from a bedsore that doctors thought would take his life. Now, fifteen years later, Wright has undergone seventeen surgeries, is bedsore-free and he now spins the music to your special events for a living. News Five’s Marion Ali reports.
Marion Ali, Reporting
Kareem Wright was shot in the neck in August of 2007 while walking home from a nightclub with his then girlfriend. At the time, Kareem told us that the shooter was his girlfriend’s ex-lover who got into a jealous rage. But he has moved past that. The forty-year-old has undergone a lot of changes since then, including changing his girlfriend, undergoing surgeries, and learning to cope with his confinements. Kareem is not able to do most things that you and I probably take for granted – like walking to the store or driving a car. But he does not let that keep him down. In fact, he is the D-Jay he has always wanted to be in life, even with his paralysis.
Kareem Wright
Kareem Wright, Paralyzed DJ
“Play music, that da something weh I mi like long time, not just the other day from primary school until when I mi like around 24. I usually wudda goh live on Facebook. My mom share mi live, mi brothers and other else people – and dehn wudda reach out to my mom and tell ah Ms Edith, if Kareem available fi do wa two gigs or you know cause I D-Jay night, day.”
Edith Wright
Edith Wright, Mother of Kareem Wright
“I watch him on stage, work that stage. Being on international shows and stuff like that. But even when we have the family gathering home, sometime I get blown away. I would go and walk away and I crash. Oh my God, is that my son? Sounds good. Music.”
There’s more than Kareem’s music that brings a tear to Edith Wright’s eyes.
Edith Wright
“17 surgeries already and with this surgery, this one for the kidney ones that might be two, two more, 19, 17 for different things, lots of complications, but you he nuh have a bed sore for like, what, six or seven years now. When he had a bed sore, the doctor look at me and tell me, nuh worry Miss, this da weh wa kill yoh son.”
Kareem says even though sometimes he has pain in his two feet, he responds when there’s a job for him to earn his keep. And he uses that as his mantra for independence even in the face of adversity.
Kareem Wright
“I still go out there in a wheelchair. I still gonna make more money. I still got, you have some people where in American, then I wanna do that. You got people that work, then I wanna work, then I wanna work. Yeah, I, I do it, I do it the other time. I don’t want know if I really like, like yeah. So I, you know, wanna move. But one thing, the mother I house. me, I take off, uh, her. Okay. So I, you know, do my thing and nuh worry bout nothing.”
Marion Ali for News Five.
If you would like to assist Kareem Wright you can reach his mother, Edith Wright at 631 7463. The Mother and son will have a turkey dinner this Friday to help raise funds for the two other surgeries that he needs to undergo.
