Jesse Ramdeo

In the face of an in­sur­mount­able chal­lenge, Rick­son Pan­cham has main­tained that his mind­set will help him achieve the im­pos­si­ble.

Af­ter an ac­ci­dent left him paral­ysed, he’s been to the brink and back.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia at his Bal­main, Cou­va home yes­ter­day, Pan­cham ex­plained the hor­rif­ic ac­ci­dent that changed his life for­ev­er.

He said, “I just went with some friends to buy food, I didn’t know it would have been the last time I would have walked again. Com­ing back home af­ter we bought food, the car run off the road and end­ed up turn­ing over on me. I was pinned and un­con­scious.”

In that in­stant, the then-19-year-old as­pir­ing crick­eter would com­mence a long and wind­ing jour­ney that would test his men­tal tenac­i­ty.

He ex­plained, “I spent four years at the Port-of-Spain Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal. I lay down straight like a pin, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t do noth­ing. They did an op­er­a­tion on my neck, they put a nut and bolt, it got slack, then they put one be­hind my neck and that is how I was able to talk.”

To­day, sev­er­al tro­phies that line Pan­cham’s tele­vi­sion stand on­ly re­mind him of his glo­ry days in sport. They are mem­o­ries, he said, that con­tin­ue to bar­rel through his mind as he lays trapped in his body.

While he grap­ples to spend his days out of de­spair, the thoughts of small mer­cies af­ford­ed to him are enough to lift his spir­its.

“Many peo­ple won’t know how frus­trat­ing it does be. On­ly the Lord have me liv­ing here, my fa­ther, my sis­ters and them does take care of me. Just a few peo­ple does help me, but I grate­ful. Pos­i­tive thoughts keep me go­ing. Peo­ple does think they have it hard but they don’t know how tough it is for me, how sad my life has be­come, but I am not giv­ing up,” he said.

Un­for­tu­nate­ly, Pan­cham ex­plained that his case is not one where a lit­tle goes a long way.

“I on­ly get a lit­tle dis­abil­i­ty grant. I used to get a food card but not any­more. I does have to pay a doc­tor to put the catheter in my blad­der and to get a lit­tle check-up. My med­ical ex­pens­es at the end of the month can be as high as $3000. I does try, I does re­al­ly try, it is hard and I try not to com­plain but so many things does just make it hard. I does wish if any­one can help me, noth­ing big, if it’s some­thing small I will ap­pre­ci­ate that,” Pan­cham not­ed.

Pan­cham is now plead­ing to not be for­got­ten, as tough times have com­pound­ed his sit­u­a­tion and as his 36th birth­day dawns, his one wish is to be able to help oth­ers.

He said, “I does want to get up to walk, to show the youths a lit­tle sport, a lit­tle crick­et, I could show any­body a lit­tle sport. If I could get up to walk with a stick, I’d be thank­ful “

With the odds seem­ing­ly stacked against him, the once avid crick­eter is de­ter­mined not to be bowled out.

Any­one wish­ing to as­sist Pan­cham can con­tact him at 378 0405.