Remember Leon Bardalez? He is the well liked gas attendant who was knocked down and left to die in a traffic accident on the Northern Highway on the night of July 19th. Part of Bardalez’s skull was crushed and doctors at the KHMH gave up on him. But his family took him to the Healthcare Partner’s Hospital where he spent two and a half weeks in the intensive care unit. After a month - he was released from the hospital but doctors warned that his recovery would be slow and painstaking. That is why we were surprised when we visited Leon at home and found him well on that road to a full recovery. Keith Swift has the update.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This was Leon Bardalez on August 7th - unconscious on a hospital bed with a serious brain injury and guarded prognosis.
[August 9th 2009]
Olga Arnold, Mother
“He nuh di talk. He said he is only
hearing.”
Dr. Joel Cervantes, Neurosurgeon
“He is in a serious condition. He is not out of the woods as yet.”
Today however Leon was conscious and talking.
Leon Bardalez, Recovering from Accident
“I kinda alright right now Keith.”
But Leon is doing more than just better. Along with talking he is walking, and moving along freely with the exception of his left hand – for which he receives therapy twice weekly.
Olga Arnold, Mother
“He came out on a stretcher. We brought him home and we had to get a nurse to stay with him and thing and since then, the nurse stayed and gave him his treatment to normalize him and they give him the injections and this is what he has come up to right now. This is the improvement, a lot of improvements.”
Keith Swift,
“You got your son back.”
Olga Arnold,
“Yes we have our son back. Thanks to everybody, thank God. The first person I have to thank is God.”
The joy of his quick recovery is however tempered by the mystery of the crash on July 19th and his inability to fully recall the accident.
Keith Swift,
“We know you were on your cycle on the Northern Highway, a vehicle came from behind or upfront, how did the accident happen?”
Leon Bardalez,
“From upfront…you know those highways it is dark at certain points so the vehicle came right on me.”
Keith Swift,
“Could you tell me about what you’ve done to try and help Leon get back his memory?”
Olga Arnold,
“We took him back to the sight and we showed him the spot and everything, we tried to talk to talk to the people the night who helped him to stop the ambulance and so but when we got there, the man wasn’t there who could have more explained to him how they found him and thing but he just started to trip after that because then he started to remember more what happened because hear what he said, it is from the front they knocked him.”
But Leon, who has a young daughter, is looking to the future and returning to work.
Leon Bardalez,
“I have the trust because dah so I do it, I want to be out there to start work. That is how we work.”
Keith Swift,
“So when will we see you back at the gas station?”
Leon Bardalez,
“In the next two weeks.”
His mom Olga Gordon has been at her son’s side since the accident – and is facing a daunting medical bill of $125,000.
Olga Arnold,
“I try to do fundraising when I go out there and instead of I mek it more I make it less, everyday is having their own thing so I just have to trust inna God and he will help we. That’s why I just pray everyday and I ask God to help me fi pay the bills, pay the doctors, pay everybody that I owe. I can’t beg for nothing because then everybody is poor in Belize and a lot of people have their own thing like that. Some people you don’t even know because they don’t talk like me because I won’t go and ask for nothing. I don’t like beg.”
But Olga Arnold did beg for one thing – she wanted back her son and she got him.
Leon’s bill at the Healthcare Partners Hospital is a little over $125,000. Olga Arnold says she has worked out a payment with Healthcare Partners Hospital and in addition she has to pay the physical therapist twice per week. The family would appreciate any assistance and you can contact them at 664-1370 or 628-3802.
