Deformed hands leave man in great distress

One of Roger Holmes' greatest wishes is to have normal fingers, but the 38-year-old says he is unaware if there is a medical procedure to correct his condition.

Holmes, a resident of New Bowens in Clarendon, was born with deformed fingers and hands.

"I cannot work the way mi would want to. Mi work at a restaurant where mi clean up the place. Mi finger dem born funny and join together so in all mi have eight fingers so it make it hard to do certain things like writing and so on but mi really a try to live a normal life. One a mi family did ago try see if she could help mi do surgery but she died and now mi a wonder if mi too old fi get it corrected," he said. Holmes' condition has never been medically diagnosed but he has his own theory of what may have had happened.

"Mi parents dem dead but mi mada did tell mi say her father use to raise chickens and she use to feel sorry for them when he was killing them and that's why I born with the fingers looking like chicken toes," he said.

Dr Charlene Chin See, an orthopaedic surgeon at Windsor Wellness Centre in St Andrew, said Holmes' condition is somewhat similar to a medical condition called ectrodactyly, more commonly known as lobster claw deformity.

"I don't know if it is treatable in adults. Kids to a certain extent but I have never seen one treated," she said.

Holmes said that while he can manoeuvre simple tasks such as holding a fork or spoon, his grip is not as strong as a persons with normal fingers. He also added that his penmanship skills are far from perfect. He told THE STAR that he was taunted and teased during his childhood years to the point where he would sometimes skip classes.

"Sometimes mi use to hide in the bathroom because the pickney dem use to give me a warm time. Them use to call mi 'fingers' and the way mi use to feel bad mi all leave school early just to avoid the teasing," he said.

Holmes has a 15-year-old son and though he earns $6,000 a week, he tries to ensure that he plays his part in supporting his offspring.

"I am living with a relative but I would like my own place and some help with food and so on. I don't know if there is any doctor out there who can help mi but I would wah be able to help myself more because mi really a try but because mi fingers dem funny mi can't do enough," he said.