by Omesha Spence 30.JAN.09

Roselle King, mother of 16-year-old Rodney King, has done all she can for her son. Having no where else to turn, she is doing what any other concerned mother would do: she is asking for help.{{more}}

Roselle, of New Montrose, is asking for willing persons to donate to an account, which would make it possible for her son to be sent to Trinidad to receive a kidney transplant.

Her son, Rodney, has not been to school since this year’s term started. He has not seen his friends, done his class work, nor has he even had a chance to hang around on the college’s compound. Not because he doesn’t want to. It’s because he can’t. Rodney, a student of the St. Vincent Community College, has Chronic Kidney Failure, a disease his mother says leaves him very frustrated and stressed at times.

Chronic Kidney Failure (CKF) is a gradual loss of the kidney’s filtering ability due to high blood pressure, diabetes or a birth defect, which was the cause of Rodney’s illness. He was born with his right kidney in his pelvis, and was diagnosed with CKF at 12 years old, while a student of the St. Vincent Grammar School.

“He just put his life at a full stop. He just put his life on hold,” mother Roselle told Searchlight about his now tiring life routine.

Rodney does 45 minutes of dialysis treatment every four hours of everyday, starting at 7 a.m. and finishing at 9 at night – a procedure which Roselle admits leaves him very weak and tired and experiencing occasional pains in his feet.

Rodney is expected to receive a kidney from his father; a sentiment that has touched both (him and his mother) their hearts. “I’m happy that he is doing it,” she said. Rodney’s father, Eric James, a construction worker in Canouan, has been tested and is a positive match. But Roselle has not come up with the $150,000 her son desperately needs for the operation.

“He is experiencing a lot of pain,” she said.

Rodney is also experiencing severe loss of appetite brought on by his treatment. “He not eating anything,” Roselle said. “I cook for him and I go back and meet the food there on evenings.”

Roselle is asking persons to donate what they can: “Any little contribution… it can go a long way.”

Persons wishing to help Rodney survive this life-threatening illness can send donations to account number 101519 (Roselle King) at Scotia Bank in Kingstown.