Old Harbour stalwart Daphne Gayle battles kidney disease

Gayle, who has worked in Old Harbour for decades in different capacities, now needs her community to rally around her as she currently faces kidney failure, a condition so serious that it has forced her to leave her beloved home in Jamaica and head to Toronto to seek treatment.

“I came back to Canada in June this year as I was manifesting signs of kidney failure and by October I was on dialysis because they told me that my two kidneys were shutting down,” Gayle told Old Harbour News from a dialysis unit in Toronto. “I do dialysis every other day, three times a week for four hours each visit. I have to be on the machine and afterwards to get home can be hazardous as I live more than an hour away from the hospital so it is nerve wracking and by evening time I have a lot of pain and legs cramping.”

Gayle was first diagnosed in 1990 back in Jamaica but in the early years she was still able to work and give yeoman service as she ran several businesses including a family farm in Spring Village, Old Harbour.

“Old Harbour is very special for me and over the years I have lived between Claremont Gardens and Darlington Drive. I’m a country person at heart who helps people anywhere I can. At Old Harbour High School I would go in and give motivational talks on ‘Girls Day’ to the students and show them career options and try to empower them,” said the visually-impaired Gayle.

As the current president of the Kiwanis Club of Old Harbour, she runs her chapter remotely and is still actively working despite her medical condition, as her guiding philosophy is that of extending a helping hand to others who are hungry or hurting, is her way of doing God's work. That work brings her immense joy and provides her with a sense of fulfilment that continues to sustain her even when she herself is at her lowest.

“I have been totally blind for 32 years. I had a brain tumour in 1990 which damaged the optic nerve and left me without sight. So just like that, everything that I knew in my life was gone in an instant,” she said.

While the impact of losing one’s sight would have devastated most people and grind all their activities to a screeching halt, Gayle who is made of sterner stuff, used it instead as motivation to work twice as hard and push herself to greater heights in all aspects of her life. “Nowadays I manage to get around with a lot of imagination,” she said. “I don’t let anything stop me from achieving my goals. I want to teach people that they don’t have to let their disability control their will or desire to thrive. Some societies don’t value you when you are disabled so I try to go beyond and prove that I’m more than capable.”

After losing her sight Gayle went to school and btained her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Anthropology  and later a Masters in Critical Disability Studies from York University in Toronto. Her second degree, she said, focused on the needs of the disabled, their rights and how they can function, get back in society and be productive. “In going back to school I discovered that you can’t let other people dictate your happiness,” said Gayle. “I was doing all the things I loved and then I lost my sight. The life I knew previously was dead but I decided to help other people struggling similarly if they needed it.”

After getting qualified she decided to go into communities in Toronto and put her newfound education to good use, working with people who were struggling mentally and otherwise. She did work with several organizations including the Jane and Finch Concerned Citizens Organization and also provided grief counselling where necessary to those suffering from loss. Not bad for a country girl from Jamaica whose early life was anything but smooth, calm-sailing.

“I didn’t attend high school in Jamaica,” she revealed. “Back then I was told by a family member that I would never turn out to be anything in life and unfortunately I internalised it and made it affect me for a long time until I migrated and pulled away from those negative messages.” In 1975 at age 19 Daphne migrated to Canada as she wanted to learn to do and experienced something different. She added: “I always want to make a difference and learn strategies that can assist me and other not just to cope but to thrive. Helping people is what gives me pleasure. The song that goes ‘If I can help someone then my living is not be in vain’ is how I sum up my journey and my goal in life.”

“Initially when I lost my sight I tried to turn away as I felt diminished but with time I came to recognise my self-worth and took the time to love and invest in myself. At the time of completing my degree, I was told that I was the first blind person to graduate with her degree in psychology. It facilitated me working to improve my mindset as I realised people saw things in me that I didn’t initially see in myself. This is what I want to share with others. That life is not a pity party.”

The mother of three who also is a proud grandmother to eight rambunctious grandchildren, was just a few years ago, honoured on National Heroes Day with Jamaica’s third highest national award by the Governor General for her incredible volunteerism over the decades. Striking an ever optimistic tone, Gayle said: “Even when things are not going the way I would try to find the silver lining in any situation. I want to continue to be useful so as soon as I get a kidney, I will try get back to Jamaica to continue to make a difference.”

With dialysis and health care free to Gayle in Canada, she avails herself of the various services provided to get her back in working order. Once she has her desired new kidney, she intends to get back in the trenches, working assiduously to make Old Harbour the preferred place to live work and raise a family.

“Old Harbour is the place that I love. The clock in the middle of the road is special to me. Just remembering it warms my spirit,” she said. “So I’m already thinking of how I can contribute to the community with possibly a health centre to provide free dialysis or at least at a reduced price. I would also seek to do more for the disabled in Old Harbour as often we find them to be people who are marginalised and set aside, as for some being disabled means you have no value. I am here to show these people that not only are they a welcomed part of our society but they are worthy just the way they are.”