Polymyositis patient seeks costly treatment as former inmate warns youths about prison

Hannah Dixon, 36, is again asking for public support after doctors said a flare-up of polymyositis requires two doses of rituximab priced at roughly $200,000 each. Dixon was diagnosed with the inflammatory muscle-weakening condition at age 16. In 2020 she received $250,000 through Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s Positive Jamaica Foundation and used the money for surgery that removed a blocked stent and draining tube.

Recent tests confirmed a worsening episode, and Dixon was admitted to hospital for monitoring. An unnamed physician told the news outlet that the disease causes her immune system to attack her muscles, affecting her ability to walk and hold up her head. Dixon said treatment would mean going to the doctor every three weeks and staying in hospital for about three days while staff assess whether the drug strengthens her muscles.

“This is the last option I have,” she said, adding that she still trusts in God. Life after her 2021 surgery has been difficult. She lost her father five years ago, her main financial support, and now relies on strangers she met in hospital. She also battles diabetes and is prone to seizures. Her old wheelchair no longer works, and she is seeking a replacement.

Dixon said employers often turn her away, though she still wants work and greater independence. She called for fair treatment and stronger enforcement of laws protecting people with illness and disability. “Don’t underestimate people. Don’t look down on them because of what they’re going through and their challenges,” she said. “I am still more.” She said affordable medication and a job could change her life.

In a separate report, Ricardo urged young people not to treat prison as a badge of honour. He was 15 when he was incarcerated for killing a schoolmate and served ten and a half years before his release. He began at the Rio Cobre Juvenile Correctional Centre in St. Catherine and was transferred to the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in Kingston, known as the General Penitentiary, after turning 18.

“I lost years but he lost everything,” he said of his victim, who never got to grow up. He said prison time reshapes a person and that nights behind bars were hardest when conscience could not be escaped. Since release he has kept away from trouble, limited his circle, and speaks to younger boys when he can, but said reintegration is difficult because people still distrust him despite his efforts to change. He said renewed public discussion about former inmates—including dancehall entertainers who lost more than a decade in prison—reflects what long sentences cost. Ricardo said he does not expect sympathy from society; he wants youths to understand that friends, money, and freedom disappear while victims’ families never recover.