Nadine Davis, the mother of 3-year-old Rayden Davis, who died on Wednesday, is refuting what Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said about the efforts the government made in attempting to save her child’s life.
Gonsalves, on Wednesday, August 18, said, “It’s a painful story, and a lot of harsh things have been said that are untrue.” The medical services in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, including the World Pediatric Project, went all out to get a proper diagnosis. Mrs. Barnwell-Scott, the cabinet secretary, arranged for the child to travel to Trinidad by air ambulance three weeks ago, but the hospital there refused to accept him because they didn’t have a clear diagnosis”.
In a Facebook posting, Davis said no government official gave her the time of day.
“Tell you what, p.m., don’t talk about me or my kid, because you couldn’t even find 5 minutes of your time to see me.” “Before my child got so bad in November, I called your secretary, crying my eyes out, and I couldn’t even get an appointment, even reach there, and the police officer wouldn’t even let me up to see the secretary,” Davis claimed in her post.
On Wednesday, some two days before Davis made her posting, Gonsalves had this to say:
“I understand the mother had come to see me, but I wasn’t there or wasn’t available, and nobody had told me.” “But I have a system with my permanent secretary, Angie Jackson, and with the cabinet secretary,” Gonsalves said.
Rayden’s death has sparked debate on social media and radio programs, with people blaming the country’s health system and the powers that be for not being proactive. Callers cited that when you are poor and not of the upper class, you can count it all lost.
Davis, deeply hurt about the loss of her child, told those commenting on her social media post that she has “stopped believing in a higher power.”
Davis urges people who had planned fund-raising events for this weekend not to cancel them, but rather to use the funds raised to establish a foundation in Rayden’s name to assist children in similar situations.
Rayden was admitted to the hospital on June 29th, 2022, with sickle cell disease, according to his mother, Nadine Davis. Further testing later showed he only had a trace of sickle cell disease. He needed a blood transfusion as a result of this. After this, he lost his ability to walk, but the doctors could not pinpoint why he was unable to walk, she stated.
“Rayden’s liver and kidney became enlarged, so he had to get a platelet transfusion, and then we were discharged. Again, we went back to the hospital a second time for over 2 weeks, and the doctors are still puzzled as to why he’s not walking. “And as per their expertise, a sickle cell trait patient is not supposed to have all those other illnesses that Rayden has, so they labeled him as a full-blown sickler (an individual affected with sickle-cell trait or sickle cell anemia),” she said.
