Young entrepreneur tries to revive dream after devastating accident

After moving to Trinidad and Tobago in 2016 to take up a job offer, Kasceme White began charting a course to success.

But a near-death motorbike accident knocked him off his path four years ago, and the 27-year-old told The Gleaner that he is still trying to pick up the pieces.

White revealed that two years after taking up employment with the eyewear company in Port-of-Spain, he resigned to launch a food delivery service.

The ambitious Duhaney Park, St Andrew, native said he took great pride in how his business was growing, especially with its round-the-clock operation. But while responding to a predawn order in April 2019, he was thrown from his motorbike in a terrible crash.

“I was going across the four-way (intersection), and the next thing I know is waking up two weeks after in the hospital with bandages on my legs, teeth missing from my mouth, lacerations, and pain. That’s what I remembered,” he said.

He soon learned that he had sustained a broken right leg, a head injury with part of his skull dented, and lacerations across the chest.

But waking up from the coma, threw White into a state of disbelief.

“I was really questioning God at the moment ... . To me, it was just like, why would that happen? I didn’t do anything to anybody; I am a young entrepreneur trying to provide for my family. That is why I went there,” he told The Gleaner.

He added that he was aware of the risks of the job and had previous accidents, but they were usually minor.

His saving grace, he explained, was that he was wearing a helmet.

The ordeal also brought him closer to God, especially as he faced the possibility of losing his leg.

“The doctors wanted to cut off my leg. When I woke up, they wanted to do surgery on it because I wasn’t moving the leg at the time, so they wanted to cut if off. And because I was there by myself, I didn’t have any family members or anything, ... so it’s like I had to fight on the bed to let them not cut off the leg. I told them to leave it alone,” he said.

“When it comes it comes,” he recalled telling the medical team, “but I don’t want it to be amputated.”

And although it took months of painful recovery, he is now able to walk with a slight limp.

The former Jamaica College alumnus said he returned to Jamaica last year and has been unemployed since.

“I have a big cut on my face, so whenever I go for a job, they think that I am a gang member and something serious because of my face ... . I don’t look like a normal person anymore,” White said.

This has been particularly distressing for him, as he explained that he is from a single-parent household, has three younger siblings, and was the main breadwinner for his family.

“[Life] is hard because of the pain that I feel constantly; I feel pain in my legs. It’s non-stop pain,” he added.

The stress of being out of work, coupled with the physical pain he often feels from the metal rods inserted in his leg, led to two mental breakdowns.

But resolute to get his life back in order, the entrepreneur recently started a production company and he has big dreams for it.

“I was thinking to produce music, so going into media production, and making videos like small movies,” he said.

“I am holding on. I am trying to better myself as best as I can ... . I am trying to make the best of it right now.”

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com