Hethelmae Richards is paralyzed and needs urgent help

While flood victims are getting assistance, there is one family in desperate need whose story we found touching and we felt compelled to include it in our newscast. When we visited with forty-eight year old Hethelmae Richards and her husband Dewey at their home in Roaring Creek Village, our hearts were so moved that we had to offer them some air time for the help they so direly need. The couple’s plight began almost four years ago, on February twenty-third, when Hethelmae, a lady weighing well over two hundred pounds, fell from the top of her stairway. The fall injured her back to break in four places, rendering her paralyzed from the waist down. Since then, the life of this food vendor was changed by that one nightmarish mishap. But her spouse, Dewey, who has been by her side for twenty-two years, decided that if ever he needed to prove his love, it was when times seemed at their worst. Dewey, also forty-eight, married Hethelmae while she received treatment in the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and pledged to take care of her, despite the new challenges of her condition. A maintenance worker at the Ministry of Works compound in Belmopan, Dewey barely earns enough to purchase food and medical supplies, but he has stuck to his promise of being there “for better or worse” to his beloved wife. But the bigger challenge is that Hethelmae needs a sizeable amount of money to undergo surgery abroad – one that doctors believe can significantly improve her life. Help has been slow in coming. Hethelmae does everything from the floor where she lies day and night. She kneads flour, seasons meat and does small tasks while lying on her stomach. For Dewey, he has not only had to learn the kitchen, but to care for his wife’s daily needs in ways he never imagined. Theirs is no easy dilemma, and as you’ll witness, both Hethelmae and Dewey broke down as they shared their challenges with News Five today.

Hethelmae Richards, Needs Assistance
“Dah Dr. Lara perform di surgery, he and Cervantes and ih tell mi dat how if get di next surgery—ih seh ih only could operate pan mi just fi mek ah sit down because dehn noh have di equipment here fi do di major operation fi mek ah could walk. So ih seh if I get di next operation which wah cost thirty-five thousand U.S., I could walk again. But I noh get dah operation I can’t walk again.”

Marion Ali
“So dat’s why yoh need it urgent?”

Hethelmae Richards
“Yes, and fi sit down up.”

Marion Ali
“I see that you’re on the floor, you have everything around you. This dah how it is—life has changed like this since…”

Hethelmae Richards
“Yes, a lot since three years and change going for four years since I’ve been like this and dah no nothing nice cause mi family forsake me. I noh have no family, only one sister look pan mi and she going away soon cause she sick too, she gwein goh see doctor.”

Dewey Richards, Wife Needs Assistance
“Since dis happen gwein fi three years now I go dah work dah morning time, left from yah bout seven-thirty, tend to she maybe I have to tend to ah cause ih stool and deh thing deh and I have to do it. cook di food from overnight, put it inna di fridge, mek ih warm, come back and warm it, go back dah work, dat h happen every morning. Everyday I come home, wash, go dah Belize hospital, married to ah dah Belize hospital, married in deh because I think she mussy neva fell like ih mi wah live and dehn thing deh. Up to now, dah only me and she and God and ih still hard fi me. All weh I ask dah just wah help, just fi help she. She need operation and lee thing fi mek ih sit down and dehn thing deh. I woulda grateful fi di people help me because dah me one do everything. I think bout stop work because dat dah di only lee job I have right now but if I stop work di money wah done.”

Marion Ali
“So yoh have to lef ah yah by ihself?”

Dewey Richards
“Everyday, I can’t afford nobody fi pay because di money dah wah small money weh I mek and I have to pay mi bills. I noh want go put mi hand outta di way and go tek weh dah noh fi me because I noh believe eena deh thing deh. I just ask fi wah help… thanks very much.”

Hethelmae Richards
“I cook right down yah, ah mek bread down yah, I do everything down yah. He get di things down yah and he put it pan di stove. I do everything down yah by myself. I tell ah I seh Christmas di come and I need fi sit down up self because I can’t sit down again. I need some help fi sit down up. Fi he salary so small, he barely even could buy medication fi me sometimes. Fi he salary dah just from hand to mouth, pay bill and barely could buy some food sometimes. Ih very hard this way, Marion, ih hard because I wasn’t like this, I was a business woman. I mi have my lee shop downstairs, mek mi panades, mi tamales, mi garnaches, my BQ and thing fi sell and everything just crash. But ah dah really want ask fi wah help. I need the help cause being like dis noh nice.”

Hethelmae also had a bedsore which took over two years of constant care before it healed. She now lies on her stomach to avoid that ulcer from returning and to eat when her husband is at work. If you would like to help her you may call her at 624-7534 or visit her at her home in Roaring Creek Village at forty-six Richards Street.