The Claxton family at South Hill will be the focus of a benefit concert at the Christian Fellowship Church on April 27, to raise funds in aid of 21 year-old Quinn Claxton, Anguilla’s first known quadriplegic.
The concert, entitled Sing For Hope, will be presented by Joseph Pradel in association with Nu Life Productions. It will feature some of the best singers representing the New Testament Church of God, City of Faith Church of God, No Walls Church of Hope, St. Gerard’s Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Churches, Wesleyan Holiness Church, Christian Fellowship Church, Church of God of Prophecy, World Harvest Assembly, Central Baptist Church, the Adventist Churches, Word of Life Ministries, Dominion Church of Hope and the Anglican Churches.
The concert is one of the first known public events organised to raise funds for Quinn who is the son of Janita Claxton of South Hill and Wayne Hughes of West End.
The story surrounding Quinn is a heart-rending one. A promising and brilliant young man, he could by now have had a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration but, today, he lies completely paralysed, and lovingly cared for by his mother, Jeanita Claxton, 56; his grandmother, Ellen Sebastian, 74; and his brother, Nieven Claxton. A close family friend, Celsa Connor, is of tremendous support to them. The family members are originally from Montserrat, but have belonger status in Anguilla and own a home on the island. Jeanita has been residing inAnguillafor thirty years.
Quinn attended LizPre-school in Anguilla and at five years old he continued his schooling in Antigua, including at the Grammar School. He returned to Anguilla at the age of sixteen and began working at Scotiabank in Anguilla. At the age of 18,he was awarded a scholarship by the National Bank of Anguilla to study Business Administration at the University of the Virgin Islands(St. Thomas Campus).
In 2009 Quinn sustained massive head injuries while travelling in a pick-up from one end of the campus to the library, at the other end, to do research. He reportedly fell out of the vehicle and landed on his head. Fully paralysed, his family, U.V.I. officials, friends and well-wishers have taken care of his medical expenses and maintenance care for the past two- and-a-half-years, but now there is need for assistance from other sources.
Quinn’s mother, a lady of unshakable faith and courage, and love for family, recalled to The Anguillian how she was told about her son’s incident and how she handled the situation. Here is her graphic account:
“At 11. 30 a.m. on Tuesday, October 20th, of 2009, I received a call from the University of the Virgin Islands that my son, Quinn Claxton, had an accident. They didn’t tell me how injured he was or what. I screamed. I said to myself this is a bad accident because my son did not call me himself. I was told to come to St. Thomas as soon as possible. I was so nervous that my other son, Nieven, and my mother, had to finish packing my suitcase.
“LIAT came early, so I was able to see my son before he was taken by air ambulance toPuerto Rico. When I saw him inSt. Thomas, I felt a burning in my belly so I prayed in the Heavenly language. His head had started swelling and they told me they have to fly him out toPuerto Ricobecause he sustained severe brain damage.
“I flew toPuerto Ricothe next morning as I was not in time to go with him on the air ambulance. He was accompanied by one of the U.V.I. officials. When I got there, a doctor told me that he had given my son a body scan and his brain was badly damaged – and kept on swelling – and that would shut down his heart and he would die in four hours.
“On hearing that, I got on my knees and I cry out to the Lord and asked Him to save my son. His head was swollen like twice the size and I stayed the night [with him] praying that God would help him. His feet to his thighs were cold stiff. I prayed: ‘God of Elijah, help me, because I know that the son of the woman, in the Bible, that Elijah prayed for was cold – and warmth came back into his body. He was dead and he came back alive.’
“As I prayed, I noticed that the warmth came back into my son’s feet and his father put socks on his feet. When the doctor said that my son was going to die I said, ‘No, my son will live’. He lived out the night in spite of the doctor saying he would only live for four hours.
“The next day the doctor was passing, but didn’t look in his [Quinn’s] direction as he said he expected that he would have been dead after four hours. “I said: ‘doctor’!
“With great surprise he looked around. He said ‘What? He is alive?’ He called his team and they put him in intensive care.
“My son was in a coma for two months. During those two months, it was like everyday I was getting bad news that he was not going to live the other day; and he was getting pneumonia. It was very stressful but, in all of that, I held on to my faith because I asked God to save him and I believed that God heard and answered my prayers.”
Unable to get any further medical assistance in Puerto Rico, Quinn was eventually brought toAnguilla. “Everyday I keep praying and sometimes my son is up, and sometimes down, but I know that God can change the circumstances,” his mother said. “I told my son: ‘Quinn, God is not going to bring you this far and leave you like that. God is going to make you whole again. You have a purpose and you must fulfill this purpose, because God have you here for this purpose and for a witness about His power and his glory in Jesus’ name.Anguillawill know that there is a God who has power to do anything – the impossible.”
Quinn’s mother once fulfilled a promise to him, in Antigua, to take him toHawaiiif he achieved straight A’s in his exams. And she further declared her faith: “My son is going to walk and talk again. He is going back to school and will make straight A’s again. That is my belief. He is going to be the head and not the tail. He will come first in his class. I believe in that.”
Though the odds are many, she has demonstrated a level of faith and courage, hardly heard of these days when doubt and fear can be so overwhelming.
Quinn’s personal care at home by his family, is being supplemented by very useful massage therapies provided by personnel at the Welches Polyclinic and, more regularly, by Joseph Pradel and others. In addition, a visiting neuro-surgeon sees Quinn occasionally and provides helpful treatment and advice.
Celsa Connor, the family friend, mentioned above, was able, through the assistance of St. Vincent de Paul, an arm of the Catholic Church, to obtain a wheelchair for Quinn and to have arranged the massage therapies.
The Optimist Club of Anguilla has set up a US Chequing Account, Number 2049153, in the name of Quinn Claxton, at the National Bank ofAnguilla, where contributions can be deposited.
The Department of Social Development is now examining ways and means of providing assistance to Quinn and his family, following a recent visit to their home by two officials of that Department.
The upcoming benefit concert, to be staged on April 27, at the Christian Fellowship Church, is the most recent effort to assist the family with monetary support. It is hoped that the event will attract many benevolent persons (from throughoutAnguilla) to contribute the admission fee of EC$20.
The story of agony, need and faith surrounding the Claxton family at South Hill (as well as atWest Endwhere Quinn’s father lives), is certainly an appealing and touching one.
