By Michelle Barrett, Staff Reporter
Rhoden shares a loving relationship with his girlfriend Leacia Thompson. - Norman Grindley /Staff Photographer
PATRICK RHODEN hurriedly jumped from the back of the moving pickup van in which he was travelling, fearing that where it was headed was not the location he had intended to go.
While running down the dirt road at breakneck speed, heart pounding in his chest, Rhoden heard a loud explosion. At the sound he instantly fell and felt something warm trickling down his back - it was his blood quickly turning his T-shirt into crimson red.
In a flash, his friends and passers-by gathered around him, curious to find out whether he was dead or alive. Still breathing but unable to move, Rhoden was placed in the same van from which he was trying desperately to escape. With his friends by his side, he was carried first to the Old Harbour Police Station, where a report about the incident was made, and then from there to the Spanish Town Hospital where he spent an agonising night due to the sharp pains that jolted his spine. The next day he was transferred to the Kingston Public Hospital where he spent the next seven months recuperating and undergoing therapy. Later on, he was transferred to the Mona Rehabilitation Centre in St. Andrew.
Nine years later, Rhoden is unable to walk but grateful to be alive and still cringes at the memory of the fateful Saturday afternoon which started off as a regular football match and later turned out to be a nightmare.
"The argument started over two goalposts that my friends and I had made from pieces of iron pipe. This man came up to us and accused us of stealing the iron pipes from his property. When I approached him, I realised that he was drunk and so I suggested that we go to the police station and settle the argument. He agreed to it and so we (himself and the team) jumped in the back of his van, thinking that we were going to the station, only to see that he turned off the main road and was heading for another direction, so I just jumped out. I never bargained for this at all," he recalled while pointing to his crippled legs.
NO WILL TO LIVE
"By the time I was transferred to Mona Rehab in my crippled state, I had already given up on life. I never had the will to live and just never wanted to do anything at all. As each day passed, my eyes began to open up and I saw persons who were far worse than me physically who had not given up," reminisced Rhoden from his motorised wheelchair at his home in Farmers' Flat, Gutters, St. Catherine.
"They were playing basketball and other physically challenging games from their wheelchairs. I even met Professor John Golding before he died and he also counselled me and told me what to expect with my disability. I had to start all over again. It was like I had a new life," said the 34-year-old photographer.
STARTING OVER
Not only was Rhoden disappointed about his physically challenged state but also met further disappointment when he went home from Mona Rehab.
"I was living with my 'baby mother' and my two children at the time. I came home unannounced and find seh another man take over. But I kinda understand that she was thinking about her survival, so I really can't blame her for wanting to be with someone who could help her, because by now, I had lost my job at Matrix Engineering in Spanish Town and spent all my money on medical bills. I didn't fuss with her, I just part off the room and stayed on my side most of the time," he further added.
To further add salt to his wounds, he has been trying to sue the man who shot him in order to recover his medical expenses, but that case fell through.
"The case has been dragged through the courts for a long time and when the verdict came for the man to give me even part of my money, he told the judge that he had no assets, which was not true," said Rhoden.
By this time, whatever savings Rhoden had was already spent and he was literally living hand-to-mouth and by the mercy of God.
"In 1997, a friend gave me a camera and told me that I could earn some money by taking pictures. By then, a 4x6 picture was selling for $50. After getting the camera, I would go to a lot of dances, fun days, trips and other events to take people's pictures, that's how I would make a little money to support myself and children."
A year later, Rhoden moved out of the home he was sharing with his children's mother.
"I started building a little board house in Church Pen, St. Catherine, with the little money I earned but the rain fell and messed up the foundation. I then rented a small room for $1,000 per month. A few weeks later, a friend told me about getting a board house from Food for the Poor. On hearing about it, I decided to camp out at Food for the Poor office at White Marl everyday. One day when I was there, I saw Sam Mahfood and told him of my dilemma. He told me that he would give me a house but I needed to have a piece of land on which I could erect it," he said.
As luck would have it, he saw a piece of unoccupied land in Gutters, St. Catherine which he felt was "perfect" for the little house. So with the help of his able-bodied friends, Rhoden cleaned it up and placed a foundation on it. That done, he went back to Food for the Poor and got his house. However, it had no flooring, roof or window, but that did not deter him. So again with the assistance of his friends he put in those structures.
"I remember going to a function at White Marl and saw Mr. Mahfood, who asked me to take some pictures, which I did. He liked them and paid me some good money for it. Up until this day, I still take pictures for them."
This relationship that Rhoden had with the organisation began to open doors for him and has enabled him to assist other physically challenged persons like himself.
"They had a lot of old wheelchairs there and so I decided to carry them home and refurbish them for persons who were in need. I later realised that the wheelchairs were in high demand so I did a business proposal on the behalf of persons like myself. This I gave to the Prime Minister at the opening of Highway 2000. He later invited me and four other physically challenged persons to meet with him at Jamaica House. A few months later we headed to Queens, New York, to acquire parts for wheelchairs," he stated.
After that visit, he later received a container of wheelchairs from the United States donated by a non-profit organisation built a shed and now has them in storage.
"Now, I refurbish these chairs and give them to persons who can't afford it. All I ask from them is for a small donation," he said.
Since then, Rhoden has also done other jobs such as barbering and operating a little bar beside his house to earn some income. He is also an active member of the Portmore Self-Help Disability Association and offers counselling to persons who are have become recently physically challenged. He has also done several additions to his one-room house and has since found a new love 22-year-old Leacia Thompson, a practical nurse.
INSTANT ATTRACTION
For her, she was attracted to him with a simple wink of the eye. "Just one wink was all it took for me to notice him when he came to a bar where I was working for a friend of mine that night. I saw him sitting outside the bar on a fancy looking bike. Little did I know that it was his wheelchair as it looked very sportsy. I went over to him to take his order and then he invited me over to his house on Sunday. I went and later realised that I felt safe and loved around him. By the following Tuesday, I moved in his home with my bags I mean he just stole my heart," Thompson said laughingly.
As for sex, Thompson said she had no complaints in this area as Rhoden is a very loving and energetic man who, she noted, always aim to satisfy her.
Patrick Rhoden says he cuts his yard and does other chores around his expanded three-bedroom house.
