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Jan 19, 2015 News
– Pleads with US Embassy to grant sibling a visa
By: Romila Boodram
The clock is ticking for a 25-year-old New York citizen, Christopher Robinson, who is in the terminal stage of a rare and deadly form of renal cancer. He is in a Brooklyn Hospital.
The young man’s one last wish is to see his older sister, Michelle Robinson, who is in Guyana.
The siblings have not seen each other for over two decades.
Michelle Robinson, in an interview with this newspaper yesterday, said that after hearing that her brother’s days are numbered, she went into the US Embassy but was denied a visa.
Now, Michele’s dying brother is pleading with the local embassy to grant her a visa, even if it is for only one day, so that they can say goodbye.
The last time the siblings saw each other was when Christopher was just three years old and Michelle was five.
Robinson’s struggles
The younger Robinson’s struggle started two years ago when a gunman invaded his house and shot him five times.
Luckily, after eight surgeries and several months in the hospital, the father of one walked out the health institution.
But he needed another operation to fix a hernia he had developed.
It was then, last August, while doctors were preparing him for the surgery, they informed him about a growth on his kidney.
A few days later, they diagnosed him with a rare and deadly form of renal cancer which had already spread to his lungs.
Renal cancer is a kidney cancer that originates in the lining of the proximal convoluted tubule, a part of the very small tubes in the kidney that transport waste molecules from the blood to the urine.
His big day
Four days ago, the 25-year-old man tied the knot with the mother of his two-year-old son, Terry, at the Brooklyn hospital where he is being monitored around the clock by medical practitioners.
The couple got married during a simple ceremony, attended only by close family members and hospital staff.
The pair met four years ago when they were both attending college in Upstate New York.
After leaving school they struggled to find work and housing. Through it all, they kept working towards their goal of a house and family.
They were slowly saving for their big day when their lives took an unexpected turn- Robinson was shot and later diagnosed with cancer.
A sister’s plea
“I only want to see my brother one time. I hardly know what he looks like now and it hurts to know he is going to die and I may never get to see him,” a tearful Michelle told Kaieteur News during an interview at her home yesterday.
The mother of two explained that when her sibling was diagnosed with the deadly disease last year, she, as well as her other relatives, thought that he would have pulled through, given his zest for life.
“It is hard to know that he was knocking at death’s door once and he pulled through…now he is again knocking at death’s door.”
Perhaps, it was Robinson’s first encounter with death that gave his relatives hope that he would have defeated the killer disease.
“He is a fighter. He fought for his life once already, so we were hoping that he would have taken his chemotherapy and be okay again,” Michelle related.
According to the sibling, it was two Wednesdays ago she learnt that her brother’s health is slowly deteriorating and he only has a few more days to live.
“I was at work and my relatives called me. They were crying and when I asked them what happened, they said that the Chemo is not working and doctors give Christopher 10 more days to live,” the older sibling said.
She related that she immediately tried to put certain things in place and arranged money to go into the US Embassy here for a visa to see her dying brother.
“But they said that I am not eligible for a visa and that I don’t have enough grounds here but I have two children and I will never leave my children and not return,” the woman explained.
Her son is five and her baby girl is only one year old.
“I only want to see my brother…My brother born in New York and I was born here. He came here twice in his life and I don’t want him to say goodbye to me over the phone,” Michelle lamented.
She said yesterday marked 12 days since doctors told her sibling that he will only live for 10 more days.
“Any time now is going to be his last. They stopped treating him and he has gone two days over the time he was given,” the sister said.
Her relatives are pleading with the embassy to grant Michelle a visa as soon as possible so that they siblings can reunite before it is too late.
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