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Rich Township worker stranded without kidney medication returns home safe from Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa
Rich Township worker stranded without kidney medication returns home safe from Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa
Source: Daily Southtown
Trinette Britt-Johnson, chief of staff for Rich Township Supervisor Calvin Jordan, returned home safe Saturday after days stranded in Jamaica without the medication she needed to keep her body from rejecting a transplanted kidney.
“I am so grateful for all those that have reached out to support me and advocate for me. I’m grateful for all the media attention to keep my story afloat,” Britt-Johnson said. “And I’m grateful to God to be here alive and safe.”
Britt-Johnson is in the emergency room at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, being kept for observation.
Britt-Johnson received her kidney transplant in March of last year, and had gone on a long-awaited vacation to Jamaica following her clearance to fly again.
“It started out as a wonderful vacation. Restful, peaceful,” Britt-Johnson said.
She said when word first arrived of the approaching storm, she felt relatively safe because Hurricane Melissa was projected to strike a different part of the island. When it became clear her location was going to be hit directly, she tried to leave but wasn’t able to get off the island.
“We were trying to get out early, but we couldn’t get out early,” Britt-Johnson said. “I think the beginning of the fear for me was, OK, we can’t get out, I’m getting low on my medication. And so that’s when I begin to start unraveling, start stressing, knowing that I needed to do what I could to protect the kidney.”
Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica Oct. 28. Britt-Johnson said the gravity of the situation didn’t truly hit her until the next morning.
“At that point, I’m texting folks back home that I’m in trouble,” Britt-Johnson said.
Later that night, Cook County Commissioner Kisha McCaskill was alerted and she began making calls of her own. Advocates led by McCaskill were able to get the medication Britt-Johnson needed to her in Jamaica to stabilize her condition before she was evacuated to Miami, where she received medical treatment.
McCaskill described the effort to deliver the medicine as a “relay for life.” Crucial help was provided by a transplant doctor vacationing in Jamaica.
“This was a man, he didn’t know us from anywhere, he heard the cry, he began that relay effort with the medication, literally taking it as far as he could take it because of the storm, someone else taking it from there and taking another leg, and so on and so forth until it actually reached Trinette,” McCaskill said.
By the time the medication reached Britt-Johnson Friday, she said she had been off it for multiple days and her blood pressure was dangerously high.
Once her condition partially stabilized, Britt-Johnson was moved from the storm-damaged resort in Montego Bay where she had been staying to Kingston, where she was able to board a flight.
“It’s like a big whirlwind,” Britt-Johnson said.
McCaskill emphasized the collaborative nature of the campaign to bring Britt-Johnson home safely, particularly crediting former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., and his staffer Al Penn, who she said were involved from the very beginning. She also expressed gratitude to U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly, and Lester Barclay, the Jamaican consulate in Chicago.
“It was a huge undertaking,” McCaskill said. “It all worked together.”
Because kidney transplants like Britt-Johnson’s aren’t often performed in Jamaica, the medication she needed wasn’t otherwise available on the island. Britt-Johnson said she went to one hospital before the storm hit and three hospitals and four pharmacies afterward, and none was able to help.
“They don’t have the same resources and the things that we take for granted here. You think it’s easy to go and find a Walgreens or a Jewel-Osco or a CVS, and can pick up medication,” Britt-Johnson said. “You know, you take vacation for granted and you don’t think about what could happen when you’re in another country and you don’t have the resources available to help yourself.”
By Evy Lewis