Daddies’ little girls

They are the quiet warriors – the fathers who stay. The ones who promise to be there through sickness and health, and truly mean it. Because raising a child with a disability demands more than just presence – it demands strength, sacrifice, and unwavering love.

These fathers speak of sleepless nights, tough decisions, and the mental resilience needed to accept what they cannot change, while fiercely battling what they can. Sometimes, help comes from unexpected places, making the journey a little more bearable.

Lauded as a valiant father by his wife Kerresha, Errol Foster, a resident of Whitehall Avenue in St Andrew, will stop at nothing to ensure that his four children are fed. However, when it comes to his 14-year-old daughter, Shockara Foster, who suffers from Rett syndrome, his resolve is doubled.

Rett syndrome is a rare and progressive neurodevelopmental disorder that primarily affects girls and can last into adulthood. It severely limits their ability to speak, walk, eat, or use their hands. Globally, the condition affects approximately five to 10 out of every 100,000 girls. Experts have described it as a condition where a child is mentally trapped in their body – unable to express needs, pain, or emotions – often leading to severe frustration, loneliness, anxiety, and depression.

Errol remembers that Shockara’s development seemed normal until she was about two years old.

“She used to hold her bottle, feed herself, and even started trying to walk ... ,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.

Then he realised that her progress stalled and she began experiencing difficulties with speech, hearing, and mobility. Doctors at the Bustamante Hospital for Children could offer no concrete solution, he said.

“It’s either she gets a miracle or she grew it out,” he recalled them telling him,.

But as Shockara aged, her condition worsened. Today, she can only stand with the support of furniture.

$15,000 per hour per session

Doctors recommended five types of therapy, but the cost – $15,000 per hour per session – was out of reach. Errol had no choice but to take her care into his own hands at home, taking up any small job he can find to take care of her.

“Right now, I sweep up the school because I can’t stay far from her,” said Errol, who works part time worker at the Swallowfield Primary and Junior High School – just across the street from his home.

“The way that the world is running with these big men molesting little children ... and remember she can’t talk. So, more time, in between work, I just run over there to check on her,” he said, noting that food and diapers have become costly.”You just have to decide to love her [with] that universal love, and do everything you can to provide and keep her safe.”

Kerresha praises her husband’s tireless efforts, noting that he goes above and beyond, “and it is not just for [Shockara], but also for his other kids as well although she needs special attention.

“He will do any and every little thing to ensure that they eat. If it is to sell some mangoes, bathe a dog, it is just that; he is going to do it. Even if he has to do work that costs far more, he will take the least just to ensure that they are going to eat. That is why I have to big him up,” she emphasised.

Another father, Wayne Lewis of Old Road in Kitson Town, St Andrew, shares a similar story. His 10-year-old daughter, Suewayne, lives with cerebral palsy – a lifelong condition affecting movement and coordination. Although Suewayne can speak and see, she depends entirely on a wheelchair.

Wayne, who lives apart from his daughter and her mother, is responsible for transporting Suewayne to and from her primary school each day. At school, she is helped around by her beloved classmates, but two times each day, it is her father’s job to transport her there and back home. It is taxing on his body, he admitted, noting that sometimes he pushes her uphill on a bicycle.

“Sometimes people see me pushing her up the hill and people ask me how I do it, and I just have to tell them it is not me. It is the Father God, ‘cause is Him give me the strength,” he said, describing the arduous trips.

The journey isn’t just physically exhausting. Taxi drivers often refuse them rides, lacking the patience to have the young girl board and disembark the vehicle and load the wheelchair.

“It is rough, but because I have been around her from day one, I just have to break myself into it,” he said.

An ever-bubbly spirit

Although Suewayne owns two manual wheelchairs, Wayne wishes she had an electric one – not just to ease his back pain, but to give her more independence, especially as she nears her teen years. Such a gift, he said, would brighten his Father’s Day.

Suewayne, an ever-bubbly spirit, then chuckled as she wished her dad a Happy Father’s Day.

“I love you, dad. I appreciate everything you have done for me, and for taking care of me. Happy Father’s Day, dad, and I love you,” she said last week.

Yesterday, David Shoucair, manager of the Mobility Unit at Food For the Poor and the Free Wheelchair Mission, acknowledged the dedication of fathers like Errol and Wayne.

“The truth is that when we get to know [these children], they are no different. They are no different from any of us as it relates to the most important attributes of love, compassion, caring, and hugging. Those are the amazing aspects,” he said.

He added that some of the children they help were born with disabilities, while others became disabled due to car accidents, falls, or gun violence.

“It’s frightening when we see the amount of children who are affected by incidents that could have been avoided,” he said.

corey.robinson@gleanerjm.com