Henry McCurdy (left) hands over a $40,000 cheque towards an eye surgery for 11-year-old Randayne Plummer (centre) to his mother, Karrian Graham, last Wednesday. - photo by Sheena Gayle

WESTERN BUREAU:

A good Samaritan has come to the aid of an 11-year-old boy whose last month of classes before the summer holidays was ruined because of eye injuries sustained in a bust-up at school.

Montego Bay businessman Henry McCurdy, who stumbled into a bit of wealth himself after being named one of the weekly winners of $100,000 from telecoms firm Digicel, donated nearly half the winnings to Randayne for eye surgery.

Heart-rending

McCurdy's gesture was in response to a Gleaner article, published on July 9, about the boy losing an eye during a schoolyard brawl in May.

"It was heart-rending to know the circumstances that caused this young boy to lose one of his eyes and to know that he has not been able to go to school since the incident was enough to let me want to help," McCurdy told The Gleaner.

Another boy allegedly used a broken mop stick to stab Randayne, a student of Chetwood Memorial Primary School in Montego Bay, St James, following an altercation over marbles.

McCurdy, People's National Party caretaker for North West St James, donated a $40,000 cheque to cover the cost of the operation. He has also pledged to cover the cost of three months of prescriptions, purchase the boy's textbooks for the upcoming school term and pay lunch and transportation expenses up to the point when the lad completes the Grade Six Achievement Test.

"I am so grateful to know that there are still persons out there who still care," said the boy's mother, Karrian Graham.

"My son is being awakened sometimes at even 3 a.m. since the incident because of the pain in his eye. I can't bear to see my son in so much pain and feel so helpless," the disheartened mother explained.

sheena.gayle@gleanerjm.com