St Kitts PM confirms he suffered a stroke, recovering well

Florida, CMC – St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr Terrance Drew on Sunday confirmed that he had suffered a stroke late last month but said that he is recovering well and that he has since been discharged from a hospital in Florida in the United States.

Drew, 49, was flown out to Florida for further medical evaluation on September 2, after initially being hospitalised in the neighbouring French island of Martinique.

He was first treated for symptoms including nausea, dizziness and balance issues, and was admitted to the Joseph N. France General Hospital in Florida on August 30.

“I want to thank you for your prayers and well wishes. I first of all want to thank God Almighty for having me here. Without Him, I would not be here. And again, to thank all of the medical practitioners …,” Drew said in an eight-minute broadcast to his twin-island federation.

“After all of the analysis, I suffered a stroke. This stroke was a dissection of one of the arteries in the back of my brain called the vertebral artery, and even though I suffered that stroke, the limitations on my mind and body, those limitations have been well controlled and well managed,” said Drew, himself a medical practitioner.

“I can move all my limbs, speak well. My mentation, my coordination, my intelligence have been well and I am now at the stage where I have left the hospital here in Florida, and I’m now doing rehab, both occupational therapy and IOT as well.”

He said his rehabilitation exercises “are going extremely well,” adding, “So at this point in time, I can say, both mentally and psychologically and also physically, I’m doing much better than my ailment will suggest.”

“And I thank God over and over for his many, many blessings and praise from all those who have been praying for me,” he said.

Drew, who has been leading the government since August 6, 2022, said his administration is a mature and serious one with “multiple contingency plans in place from the worst-case scenario to a minor disruption.

“In this case, I suffered an acute illness and had to leave the country in short order to seek medical care,” he said, noting that whilst he was in hospital in Basseterre he met with the entire Cabinet.

“I was able to basically explain the plan to them and delegate responsibilities to the whole of Cabinet. So everything was in place. Everything has been left in place and all of my responsibilities are delegated to the pertinent ministers.

“And I want to say, thus far, I’ve been monitoring. They’re doing a very good job and the transition has been extremely smooth. The government has been functioning extremely well,” he said as he thanked all stakeholders for playing their respective roles.

“And so I ultimately want to thank my support group, my wife who has been by my side, my son who came to visit me, my mother, my sisters, even people from the St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party and even those beyond the politics who have been sending support and reaching out.

“So, so many people to thank, and all I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you. But ultimately, the greatest thanks goes to God Almighty, for without him, I would not be here and having suffered what I suffered, and in such short order to be able to speak well, move well…and getting to have already left the hospital and getting ready to leave the rehab centre…that alone is a great testimony in and by itself.

“So I want to thank God for all that he is doing, and all that he has done. But I also want to reiterate that my general health has been extremely good. My blood sugar [is] extremely good, my cholesterol, the control of my blood pressure. So my baseline health status is extremely robust and strong.

“And that has given me…I will say basis for my quick rebound. Of course, that is in tandem with my spiritual life as well. I take my prayer life seriously, my meditation life seriously, and these things have really helped me through this most difficult time,” Drew said, adding that he is looking forward to returning home to get back to work.

“But at this time, what I fundamentally want to say is thank you, and I cannot say it enough,” he added.

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