Wiping away tears, soft-spoken security guard Valerina Judy Watson is expressing faith that her daughter, Tamar Watson, 21, will pull through after the accident which claimed the life of boxing icon Jizelle Salandy, 21, on Sunday morning. Watson remains warded in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Port-of-Spain General Hospital.
While she remains optimistic on Watson’s prognosis, she was having trouble dealing with the traumatic incident. “It’s like it’s not real; it’s like it’s a movie. I almost lost my first-born.” Watson said both of her daughter’s legs and collarbone were broken in the crash. Yesterday, flowers were placed on the site in Salandy’s memory. Watson said doctors were not sure whether she had sustained chest injuries. “I am hoping she will have a total scan from head to toe. The doctors are not saying when she will be put on the ward. They do not want the marrow from her bones to enter her lungs and her brain.” While Watson is hurting for her child, she was also in mourning. She said: “Jizelle was like my daughter. She will go to heaven.”
Watson, a member of the Full Gospel Church at Vessigny, La Brea, said she was putting her faith in God. Among those who had gathered outside the ICU unit were Watson’s father Clyne La Borde, an engineer; ex-boyfriend Kaflie Glasgow; sister Tyle, 12; and relatives. Everyone expressed the sentiment that Watson and Jizelle were an inseparable pair. “They were really close. Once I heard Jizelle was in an accident over the news, I automatically knew Tamar would be there,” said her mother. Watson is a student of Georgia Tech University in the US. Like her mother, La Borde is confident: “Tamar will pull through.”
Minister of Info:
Neil Parsanlal said: “Doctors spent an awful amount of time working on her. The team was headed by orthopaedic surgeon Dr Marlon Mencia. “I think they did a fantastic job. I want to commend them. We continue to hope for Watson’s recovery.”
Crash survivor asks for Salandy
By Walter Alibey (T&T Newsday)
SOON AFTER regaining consciousness in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, national footballer Tamar Watson asked questions about the condition of her best friend, boxer Giselle Salandy.
Watson’s close friend Anna Prescott revealed that doctors, family members and other close friends are now having a difficult time deciding when to tell Watson that Salandy died in the crash on Sunday morning for fear that Watson may suffer shock.
Salandy, the holder of multiple world boxing titles, died when the car she was driving slammed into the concrete pillar at the Beetham Flyover on the Beetham Highway.
Doctors have advised Watson’s family to not tell her about Salandy who will be buried tomorrow at the Fyzabad Cemetery, where her mother Maureen was laid to rest years ago, after a funeral service at St Benedict’s Roman Catholic Church in La Romain.
Prescott said yesterday that although no one has told Watson anything, she has a gut-feeling Watson has an idea of what happened.
“I had to tell her that I cannot talk about Salandy whenever she asked me. Sometimes I see her facial expression as though she just wants to break down into tears and therefore we had to keep on telling her good things,” Prescott said.
At the hospital yesterday, Watson, 21, told Prescott she was not experiencing any pains from her broken legs, collar bone and fractured hip which she sustained in the accident. “She was comforted by the fact that the entire country was supporting her,” Prescott said.
Watson’s mother Valerina thanked God for saving her daughter’s life in the accident.
“She is doing fine now and I hope that she will be home soon,” Valerina told Newsday.
Prescott said on Saturday morning, Salandy and Watson took part in football training at a field at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine, where Salandy took some time off from the boxing ring.
“Salandy and Watson are very good friends and after training everyone went to their respective homes to shower and return at the home of coach Marlon Charles for the usual year end lime in Maracas, St Joseph,” Prescott said.
According to Prescott, the lime went right through the night. Early Sunday morning, Salandy and Watson left St Joseph.
“I told them to take care because Watson who lives in Vessigny had decided to stay by Salandy, but they first had to drop one of the girls,” Prescott said.
Prescott said she woke to the news of the accident at about 7 am and had to tell Watson’s mother.
“Watson has been my best friend and I felt as though I was going to stop breathing when I heard about the accident. My biggest concern now is that I am going back to school in the US on Thursday and I will not be around to give her the support during the early stages of her recovery,” Prescott said.