By Indarjit Seuraj Tuesday, March 16 2010

click on pic to zoom in

I'm a survivor: Paige Welch shows off her artificial left forearm at Next Step Orthotics and Prosthetics Inc, at Manchester, New Hampshire, last Frida...

Twelve surgeries and seven months later, 13-year-old United States (US) citizen Paige Welch was fitted with a prosthetic left forearm to replace the limb she lost while kayaking with her mother and cousin close to Scotland Bay, Chaguaramas last August.

Last Friday, Paige met with her prosthetist who fitted her with the artificial forearm at Next Step Orthotics and Prosthetics Inc in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Doctors at the Boston Children’s Hospital decided to amputate the limb four to six inches below the elbow on August 28, 2009.

Her father Clarke Welch yesterday said Paige was in good spirits and looking forward to the new forearm.

“It’s a learning process and she is working on it,” Welch told Newsday in a phone interview from the US.

She will turn 14 in June but Welch said Paige was mature and showed character despite the adversity she faced.

“She is an amazing human being. My daughter has done everything perfectly. She has never complained about the loss of her arm,” Welch said.

“Paige is doing very well,” he added.

The prosthetic forearm will allow for just a fraction of the functions she performed before the accident.

Paige made the Dean’s Grade Five honour roll at the Hamstead Middle School at the start of August, last year, but her life forever changed on August 16 when her left forearm was crushed from the propeller of an outboard engine while she was on a kayaking expedition.

Paige, her mother Raquel Welch, 40, of New Hampshire, and 23-year-old cousin Lance Aqui, a Trinidadian, were seriously injured during a kayaking expedition close to Scotland Bay, Chaguaramas.

A pirogue driven by an army private officer collided with the kayak carrying the three victims.

Paige’s left arm was almost severed during the incident and doctors at the Medical Associates private hospital in St Joseph had initially done surgery that same day to try and save Paige’s forearm.

Racquel, a kindergarten teacher, suffered serious injuries to her back, while Aqui suffered a broken right ankle. Aqui also tore crucial ligaments and other tissue in his ankle, and has been unable to walk properly since.

At the end of an investigation involving detectives from the Carenage Police Station, there has been no definitive decision on whether charges should be slapped against the Defence Force officer. Newsday understands the officer’s pirogue has since been released to him.

Welch, however, believes the lengthy investigation shows how little respect there is for life in TT.

“Seven months is a long time. This just tells me how much life means to them (authorities),” he said. He noted that having waited for such a long time, he is not certain whether anything would come of the investigation. “This is much too long and I’m not holding my breath,” he said.

He said while the trauma and pain which were caused by the officer were immeasurable, the medical expenses for his wife and daughter have reached close to US$1 million (TT$6.3 million).

An account has been set up in the US at the Sea Coast Credit Union, Exeter, New Hampshire, to assist with the medical bills. Anyone wishing to donate locally to Paige’s full recovery can make a deposit at any branch of Scotiabank, account 4005144.