ÐÓ°ÉÐÔ°É

After enduring a horrifying campaign trail accident that left her left leg severed and parts of her right foot mangled, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporter Dalvarine Bruce Pearce is again standing tall.

The Mount George, Yallahs, St Thomas, resident was yesterday gifted a brand-new prosthetic leg, custom-fitted at the Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre in Mona, St Andrew.

"Mi feel real good because memba mi used to work when mi have mi two foot dem and after mi lose one, mi did stop work but now mi can guh back guh work," the 50-year-old told THE STAR. Bruce Pearce was a street sweeper before her injury.

The state-of-the-art prosthesis, valued at more than $800,000, was funded through the Ministry of Health and Wellness' New Life, New Limb initiative. Prime Minister and JLP leader Dr Andrew Holness and St Thomas West Member of Parliament James Robertson witnessed the fitting.

Bruce Pearce's life-altering incident took place on Nomination Day for the local government elections last year. She was riding high on the back of a campaign truck, rallying support for her party in St Thomas. But the festive energy turned tragic in seconds. The truck swerved to avoid a crash and struck an embankment--flinging Bruce Pearce into a wall of rocks, slicing her leg clean off.

"It wasn't really nuh reckless driving. The trailer just meet in a likkle difficulty, cause yuh know sometimes difficulty do happen," Bruce Pearce said, rejecting claims that her foot was dangling over the edge of the vehicle at the time.

"Suh when it guh round the curve, because is a tall trailer... everybody did a seh mi foot hang off a di trailer but mi foot never hang off a di trailer," she insisted.

In addition to losing her left leg, Bruce Pearce suffered a fractured right foot and partial loss of her right big and middle toes. Yet she has refused to let the trauma steal her joy or purpose.

She told THE STAR that she was on the campaign trail simply because of her love for the party.

"Fi tell yuh the truth, mi love dem sumpn deh. Mi love it. I was a election worker, suh anywhere dem aguh -- St Mary, Portland -- I went," she said.

Bruce Pearce credits her recovery to the support of her friends, immediate and political families.

"It nuh really that difficult, I'm not gonna tell no lie. Is only that sometimes I cannot do things how mi use to do it, suh mi will have to ask somebody fi duh it fi mi," she said.

Meanwhile, Holness and Robertson both expressed their admiration for Bruce Pearce's strength and optimism.

"It's quite unfortunate what happened, and so the member of parliament and myself got involved. We would have gotten involved in any other case, like we have done several others, but this one is quite special because the beneficiary is known personally to the member of parliament -- she works in his organisation and her family works in the organisation -- so it's a special case to us," Holness said.

Robertson also praised Bruce Pearce for her remarkable resilience and spirit in the face of what could have been a devastating experience.

"The amount of blood she lost [shows] she is a strong, remarkable human being. I believe some of the reasons why she pulled through so well to be here with us is just her own internal resilience and strength as a person," he said.

"She is so positive, which is what touched both of us. At her lowest moment, she was lifting everybody around her. Now she has family, she has community, she has friends," he added.