Almost 28 years ago Tamiko Gilbert promised he would take his best friend Erica Morris to their prom -- the date never materialized. Two weeks before St. Augustine's College's (SAC) Class of '92 prom, Gilbert dumped Morris for another date. She has never let her classmate and friend live that down. Two-and-a-half decades later Gilbert has again promised to take Morris to the prom. And while they're looking forward to a fun evening between friends at SAC's Class of 2017 prom, they will be attending the seniors rite of passage with a serious initiative behind the outing -- to raise funds to assist '92 classmate Maceito Glinton with his mounting medical bills.
In July 2016, Glinton suffered three strokes. He has to have his skull repaired. It was removed to allow his brain to bleed after having had the strokes, resulting in a hemorrhagic right brain. He also suffered from spiked blood pressure at 285/160; hemorrhagic right side bleeding results from a weakened vessel that ruptures and bleeds into the surrounding brain.
He is having difficulties with vision in his left eye as a result of left facial weakness due to the strokes.
His medical bills stand at $50,000 and are rising.
Glinton's wife, Bolera, who is also a member of SAC's Class of '92, was off island last year when she received a telephone call that her husband, who was the family's major breadwinner at the time, had suffered a massive stroke. She was advised to return home because there was a chance her husband would not make it. Glinton spent four weeks in intensive care, followed by another eight weeks in hospital. He has since had to have a stomach tube installed, and suffered a seizure, and still has to have his skull repaired as his medical bills continue to rise.
Glinton's 14-year-old niece, Soraya Jovin, knowing she can't work to assist with her uncle's medical bills, did the next best thing she knew, she opened a gofundme page on which she is asking members of the public to donate monies and support her uncle in his time of need, to help raise funds to assist her aunt in paying her uncle's medical bills.
In 24 days, the gofundme account has raised $2,270 of the $50,000 goal, from 16 people.
"God chose to spare his life, and we are thankful," wrote Soraya. "My uncle was a strong, hardworking man who paved roads and drove huge trucks for a living. He supported his wife, Bolera, and four children Mcquille, 21, a college student; Malisha, 15; Mashard, nine; and Malia, six. Since his stroke, Uncle Macy has not been able to work. My Auntie Bolera now cares for him full-time and has a small business creating beautiful bags. Uncle Macy is recovering slowly. He can now talk, and is relearning how to walk with the help of great physiotherapists and doctors. My aunt shared that my uncle's hospital bill is currently at the $50,000 mark and is growing.
"Also, their light bill was so high that [BPL] has turned off the electricity to their home, which makes life a greater challenge. I am not old enough to work and help my uncle, but I thought I could reach out and ask others to give what they could to help my uncle and his family. So if you can, please donate to my uncle's hospital fund, and if you cannot, please pray for my uncle and his family that God would lead many to help in this difficult time."
Bolera says her husband's medical issues arose as he was trying to get a wart removed. She said he was on blood pressure medication, and medical officials started adjusting his medication every time he went to the doctor because his blood pressure was high.
"They kept telling him his pressure was too high, so they increased the medication each time, then they changed it, and I went away, and that's when he had the stroke," said Bolera.
Glinton, 43, is out of hospital and at home. He's talking now and doing therapy, but can't do much else for himself. Doctors have told her that her husband will definitely not be able to resume his former career. The strokes have left him with left-side weakness. He barely moves his left foot and doesn't move his left arm. He also requires 24-hour care.
As she can't hold down a full-time job, because she has to provide around-the-clock care for her husband, the mother of four has taken to helping out her family finances the best she can by making straw bags. And in capitalizing on the political season, she also has what she calls her "Election Collection" with bags dedicated to all the political parties for sale.
Through all of this, Morris has been with her friends every step of the way, including "man-sitting" for Bolera when she needs to run errands to assist the family.
"You never know when it's your time," said Morris. "She [Bolera] is my friend, and the minute I saw that she needed help, I just jumped onboard -- anything that she needed ... I can remember her calling me at 12 midnight because their car had broken down, saying 'Erica we don't have any water in the house,' and me coming from my house at midnight in my pajamas, taking her to get some water. I can remember 'man-sitting' him -- not babysitting -- one day, because his wife needed to run some errands, so I told her I would watch him for her and I remember just looking at him and weeping, thinking he's not going to make it. It's them today, but I live for my child, and I would hope that if something like this were to happen to him, even if I'm not here, that he would have a friend that would do the same for him ... it's just knowing that humanity still exists; and you do these things not looking for any type of reciprocity."
Morris is one of those always upbeat and engaging people who never seems to let things get her down, and while she says she was devastated and livid when Gilbert dumped her two weeks before the prom, she never let Gilbert forget that. A few weeks ago, she said she jokingly decided to poke the bear one more time about what he had done to her.
She posted to social media what he had done to her and that she felt it was time he made it up to her. At the time of the posting, she said she didn't think about him taking her to the prom or anything, but when people started responding and telling him that he needed to make it up to her and try to take her to some prom, he called her the next day and asked her to go to SAC's prom with him. She agreed.
"And then I thought about it and said wait a minute, we're trying to do a fundraiser for Maceito, why don't we tie this into a publicity stunt for Maceito. So basically, if people want to see us go to the prom, they can buy a proverbial ticket, which is donating $10 or whatever to the gofundme page [started by Soraya], and that is how we're going to go to the prom."
Funds donated on behalf of Morris and Gilbert's prom date go directly to Glinton's family, and have nothing to do with Morris and Glinton's upcoming prom date. They said they're going anyway.
Morris reached out to the organizers of the SAC Class of 2017 prom. She said they welcomed them onboard when they found out about the initiative.
She and Gilbert will be attending the prom on June 24 at the British Colonial Hilton Hotel, and are hoping to raise a significant contribution to help the Glintons.
They've also had people step up to assist them with making their prom night happen -- albeit 25 years later. Apryl Burrows will recreate Morris' prom dress; Kedar Clarke will style Gilbert; and Patrick Ferguson will take their pictures.
Gilbert gives Morris all the credit in coming up with the fundraising idea that he thinks is great. At the same time he admits he was blindsided when she started blasting him on social media about not taking her to the prom 25 years ago, something he said she never let him live down, and in the past had always spoken to him about face-to-face. He also owns up to having made a lousy move all those decades ago that universally is frowned upon.
"It was a convoluted situation 25 years ago in high school. Erica and I were good friends. I'd kind of had a crush on her way back, but I got friend-zoned, and so as a result I was like I ain't worried about that anymore let me carry someone else to the prom."
He asked two other girls, one was a year behind him -- her dad told him he didn't want his daughter going to the prom that year; the other was a classmate who told him she would be attending with someone from her church. Out of options, Gilbert said he had to settle to going to prom with his friend, Erica, and told her yes. Then the classmate who was to go with the church guy returned to him and told him she could go. He dumped Morris.
"Obviously I did the lousy move that everyone universally accepts to be frowned upon, and which shouldn't have been done -- I went with the other girl which was wrong, and didn't have such a great time. It was a boring night and all that, and she went off to college that same year, and I haven't seen her since. Erica on the other hand is always around, everywhere -- and everywhere I've seen Erica in the past 25 years, it's always, 'Boy you dump me for the prom.' If I meet her in the mall, she introduces me as, This the guy who dump me for the prom.' Mind you, she and I are still great friends, and that's a joke between us, so when she started in on it on social media about it four weeks ago I was so surprised. It turned out she had hatched an idea behind it, and I accepted."
Gilbert said that he's obviously bummed and dismayed that Maceito has been afflicted with his medical condition, and said it's a situation that is surprising and sobering to the members of the Class of '92.
"I guess all of us still feel a little young, but all of us in my class should be over 40 now, so we're not as young as we once were, and to know that one of our classmates is down is very sobering. We obviously want to help and do what we can to show our support. And it's not just one of our classmates -- it's two of them -- because Maceito married Bolera, and both of them graduated with us, so it's two members of our '92 class that are affected directly."
On the lighthearted side of things, Gilbert said attending the prom with Morris will be about fun, and a chance for him to redeem himself and make amends for what he said was a "boneheaded" move in 1992, as well as see how he and Morris hold up against the young folks.
On the serious side he said they are happy to be able raise funds for an important situation.
"The sky's the limit. I just want it to be something significant. I don't want it to be chump change," he said.
SAC's Class of '92 will be coming together for their first reunion since graduation, and have planned a series of initiatives, all of which will be fundraisers to assist the Glintons. The first event will be a soup drive on Thursday, March 30 during which peas soup and dumplings, conch chowder, okra soup, and pumpkin soup, will be sold at $10 per cup; as well as cream of broccoli and butternut squash soup at $7 per cup, prepared by Ali-Gaitors Catering Service. Delivery can be had for five or more orders, or soups can be picked up on the far west side of Montagu Beach. Orders can be placed at 558-8005.
The classmates will also have a weekend of family-oriented activities encompassing games like dominos to the three-legged race that they will charge to participate in, again with proceeds going to Glinton. Classmates are encouraged to wear the color associated with the House they were in (Leonard, Bernard, Alcuin and Seton) for the occasion.
"We've actually decided to have a class reunion, but in aid of a fundraiser for Macieto, because we've never had a class reunion. We're doing all of this in our 25th year of graduating to raise funds for his medical expenses," said Morris.
"We're trying to do different things, and hats off to Erica Morris," said Gilbert. "I'm just a willing participant in her master plan right now. Erica's the Brain, and I'm Pinky. That lady's heart is very big, and I applaud her for it. All of us have our careers, and our lives, most of us have our own family situations by now, but Erica is just out there and bringing everyone together. We encourage everyone to have a big heart when it comes to this situation, purchase a soup, come out on June 24 to see us, donate to the gofundme, and try to keep an eye out for any other fundraisers we may come up with in the next couple of months."
Bolera's appreciation for their efforts to assist her husband in his time of need was so overwhelming, she said she couldn't find the words to express her gratitude.
"I can't even find the words to express how appreciative I am, because it's just been so much ... I have his medical issues going on, and then I have other stuff going on in the home. I wasn't working at the time, when it happened, he was the one working, and so I can't get a job now because he needs 24-hour care, because his skull is not on, and they don't want him to fall, because if he falls ... and I have four kids."
Looking back, Morris said that ironically, it was at Glinton's grandmother's house that they were supposed to have their prom after-party 25 years ago, but that never happened.
"Cars were lined up from Imperial Park to Prince Charles. We all got there and his grandmother was like, 'Ain't no party goin' to be here. I don't know where ya'll goin' but ya'll can't come in.' Needless to say, we didn't even have an after-party, so you had a whole class of people with no place to go," she recalled.
After the upcoming SAC prom the Class of '92 will get their after-party, at the home of a classmate in The Grove, at which Joe Cools' another classmate will deejay. The party will serve as another fundraiser for Glinton.
Two-and-half decades later, Morris is going to prom with Gilbert, her best friend, and is looking forward to a fantastic evening. But she also recalled how livid she felt with being dumped.
"Tamiko and I went to Europe together [on a school trip] and became best friends. We made a promise to each other going into 10th grade that we were going to take each other to the prom. I stood by that. I had a boyfriend, but I was like, this is my friend, I want to go to the prom with him. In the 12th grade we were planning going to the prom together. I went away, purchased a dress, and when I came back I said to Tamiko, what colors are you going to wear, because here are my colors. We were in Red Square at the time and he looked at me dry-eyed, no remorse, no nothing, and said I'm not taking you to the prom. I was like what? I was devastated, because I was one of the more popular girls in school, so how could I go to the prom without a date?
"I was a piece of mess in Red Square, 'cause I was goin' drag him in Red Square, but I couldn't do it, because I didn't want to get suspended. I ended up going with another guy in our class to prom to the Le Meridien Hotel [now Sandals Royal Bahamian]. We walked in together. I never saw my date again that night. I didn't see 'Tiko' the whole night. I didn't talk to him. He dumped me, and then come to find out, he took someone else in our class to the prom. In 25 years I never let him live that down, because I'm like how can you do this to me? I'm your good friend."
So 25 years after Gilbert unceremoniously dumped Morris, the duo will be going to prom together, and using the event as a fundraiser to help defray the cost of their classmate's medical expenses. Person's wanting to donate to Maceito Glinton's medical expenses can do so at the gofundmepage at www.gofundme.com/c3nep-macys-medicalfund, or a deposit can be made at the Bank of Bahamas account #5510055501 in the name of Maceito Glinton at the Village Road branch.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian