Usually only soldiers who’ve been in the teeth and thick fury of an armed battle can tell you what it’s like to survive a grenade blast. But on these streets of Belize, there are about a dozen battle-wounded survivors of urban terror who have their own story of life after the grenade. And one of them is Teddy Reyes. In the days after the attack which claimed one life, he was listed as critical, and doctors gave him a very slim chance of surviving. But he did live...still, though, that’s far from the end of the story because what he’s living with is a kind of terror unto itself. Jacqueline Godwin went back into Mayflower Street to find out more.
Teddy Reyes, Survived Grenade Explosion
“After it explode I think like somebody come shoot cause I feel like I get shot in my jaw and as, after that I just feel like I come down from out of the air and broke my finger and after that I just hear people the cry.”
Doctors had pronounced him dead two times but twenty year old Teddy Reyes was not ready to give up. He was the most critically injured and was given only a fifty percent chance to survive. Reyes had suffered massive injuries that left at least seventeen holes in his body.
Teddy Reyes,
“Like my mom and them say the doctor had already given me up and tell them how I had died but after that they saw I start to gain pulse and open my eye and they started to rush me.”
Patricia Cruz, Mother
“Well at first I could not believe because I said that my son is strong and he is going to make it so I didn’t believe. But my daughter was with me and she started crying and thing and after that we went back inside and the doctor said that he came back to again and thing. But it was a horrible experience for me and right now I am still going through a hard time.”
The explosion not only launched Reyes into the air but it also tore apart his
right leg, left him partially deaf in the right ear and caused a serious wound to the chest and abdomen. He survived, but it’s his quality of life that’s now in question. It is not certain if he will be able to walk again much less live a normal life.
Jacqueline Godwin,
Your ears were damaged?
Teddy Reyes,
“I was bleeding through my ears, my eye, and my nose. My right foot, piece of bone went missing, I have a big hole in my foot and I have to put this steel because the night when I was there, only the skin was holding it up.”
Patricia Cruz,
“It was a horrible sight, blood was everywhere, everywhere. I was so frightened that I forgot I was in my night gown. I went right so in my night gown to the hospital.”
Reyes is now back home after spending just over a month in the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital but as explained by Patricia Cruz her son’s recovery will take a very long time.
Patricia Cruz,
“He has pins in his chest, his belly, his foot, his jaw. Doctors say it will take a long time for him to recover but I know he will recover but maybe he won’t be the same again. I just continue to pray and ask God to give me strength and that he will make it through it, that he will be able to walk again.”
The explosion killed sixteen year old Darren Trapp and injured eleven others. None of the survivors have publicly spoken about what happened on that may eighteenth night; that is until today when Reyes shared with us what had happened.
Teddy Reyes,
“The young boy had just come from Agriculture Show and he was talking about what happened up there. We were there in a circle talking and just, ‘boom,’ the explosion happened.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
What you thought it was?
Teddy Reyes,
“We thought it was a rock drop and Dwayne went by the rock and just kick the rock and then everything just explode.
I can’t move around until maybe like next year when they have done the bone draft.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
So this is a long road to recovery?
Teddy Reyes,
“Yes ma’am. From the doctor say he can’t believe I survived because they have already given me up.”
Twice a day, seven days a week Reyes goes to KHMH to dress his wounds but the family continues to struggle financially. They are appealing for public assistance.
Teddy Reyes,
“I have to go through two more operations, one for my foot and one for my upper body. I have to get a bone graft for my foot in the next two months.”
Reyes says he knows a lot of challenges lie ahead but he is grateful to be alive to spend time with his three year old son and family.
Teddy Reyes,
“My family supports me. People come around and give me advice. I have a son to live for.”
Meanwhile Patricia Cruz says she does not seek revenge but continues to pray for those who are responsible.
Patricia Cruz,
“I don’t have no grievance against nobody or nothing. I just pray for them and thing because if I have grievance against anybody, my son will never survive or nothing like that so I don’t hold grievance against nobody. I just pray for them and their parents too.”
Reporting for 7NEWS, Jacqueline Godwin.
Those who would like to assist Teddy Reyes can call 622-7297 or 207-0069 or make deposits to Belize Bank account number 20037785. This evening the Faith and Justice Commission held a prayer service on Mayflower Street at the site of the grenade blast.
