Bomb blast victim goes home to her family

McIvor was the most seriously injured of 14 victims in a bomb blast which left four persons warded at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital last month. She was hospitalised and had her left leg amputated to mid-thigh, as the limb had been too badly damaged to be saved.

When the bomb went off, McIvor had been walking down Frederick Street to catch a bus to her home in Arima. She had been returning from the Radiotherapy Unit in St James, where she was being treated for cancer after undergoing a breast surgery. The garbage can on the sidewalk exploded as she walked by.

McIvor told Newsday she was traumatised and would not walk the streets of Port-of-Spain.

"I even had a psychotic episode while I was here at the hospital. I would tell my family not to walk on the pavement, walk in the road!" She confessed.

"I have improved and there are challenges that we face. I feel that I am well and cancer free also," she explained. McIvor added that she plans to continue rehabilitation at the hospital and maybe seek professional help.

McIvor said that she did not condone violence, and in her heart she only had forgiveness for her assailant. "I would ask him why he did it. I hold no animosity. This is how I feel," she stated. McIvor said she was now ready to go home with her family. "They are taking it well and so is my husband." She added that she used her walker for the first time two days ago and could not use crutches. Health Minister John Rahael visited McIvor at the hospital and donated a surgical bed, a motorised wheelchair and a walker. Rahael said the woman will also be helped by a patient care giver while at home.

"It is unfortunate she suffered, and as a caring Government it is the least we can give her back. We can’t give her back a limb, but hopefully she will soon be given a prosthetic limb," he said.