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Paul Nijssen
Wátina: I called out!
“Oh God, please change my life this year/I ask you to change my life but please don’t take it away/Please leave me here where I can be a bothersome spirit…”
- From the song Wátina, the title track of the Wátina CD, by Andy Palacio and The Garifuna Collective
A massive brain stroke, a heart attack and respiratory failure claimed the life of our beloved Garifuna brother, world famous signer/musician and personal friend, Andy Palacio, 47, known to many as just “Andy” or “Andy P.”
Neurosurgeon Joel Cervantes, one of Andy’s doctors at the Universal Health Services, told our newspaper that Andy died from a “silent killer” that strikes regardless of ethnic group – high cholesterol was the time bomb leading to stroke in the central organ – the brain, which resulted in cascading effects on the rest of his body, leading to problems with speech, hearing and balance.
Less that two hours after hundreds of well-wishers gathered at a recovery mass held in his honor at the St. Martin De Porres Church in Belize City, Andy stopped breathing. He had been on life support at the Universal Health Services (UHS) hospital in Belize City since Friday.
On Thursday evening, he left the hospital en route to Chicago, but he suffered a heart attack mid-air, which threw him into a deep coma.
Andy had suffered a stroke on Tuesday, and his doctor believes high cholesterol levels and blood pressure, which Andy had been diagnosed with on Saturday, may have led to his sudden illness.
Rumors had been abuzz that Andy’s death was due to obeah, or that he had died from AIDS, which Andy had been rumored to have for over a decade now. So for the record, we put the question to neurosurgeon Dr. Joel Cervantes, one of Andy’s doctors at the Universal Health Services (UHS), where he had been hospitalized. It was a malicious lie, Dr. Cervantes told us, adding that the rumors are “untrue and disrespectful,” especially for someone like Andy who gave so much to our community.
Dr. Cervantes told us that tests done on Andy both in Belize and abroad in Alabama during the past week were negative for any infection. The UHS issued a formal death certificate to the family today, and Dr. Cervantes told us that it lists three causes. The first was a massive brain stroke that began to affect Andy on Tuesday, the second a heart attack he suffered on Thursday, and the third was respiratory failure, which took Andy to sleep permanently on Saturday night.
The medical reports indicate that he died as a consequence of a non-communicable lifestyle disease – a rising cause of medical concern in Belize – and not as a consequence of anything he would have contracted. The doctor advises that everybody – man, woman and child – should get a general check-up every six months, and whatever health problem one has, he or she should look into it before it gets too late.
What happened to Andy, Cervantes said, was not unique, and in fact, there have been other cases like his in Belize. What was surprising was how well Andy held up, he added. Most who have suffered that kind of medical trauma have not lasted more than 24 to 36 hours, and the fact that Andy fought for a week showed how genetically strong he was, Dr. Cervantes added.
Andy Palacio – a man who has worn the hats of teacher, singer, guitarist, drummer, composer, producer and poet—fell sick just over a week ago. On Saturday, he was diagnosed at the Belize Medical Associates with high blood pressure, and days later, his cholesterol level was found to be at dangerous levels.
Dr. Cervantes said that these likely led Andy to become terminally ill during last week. The stroke did substantial damage to Andy’s brain, and he had to be put in medical coma before he was flown out en route to Chicago.
But Andy never made it there, as he suffered a heart attack while in mid-air, and the air ambulance had to land in Mobile, Alabama, instead, with Andy on life support. There, doctors did a series of diagnostics, but found that Andy was too far-gone. He was brought back on Friday night, and kept on life support until his death on Saturday night.
Andy’s relatives were hoping that he could at least be kept alive until his two daughters living in the States were able to see him. Unfortunately, he died before they could get here.
Andy was pure musical and lyrical genius, and he used his richly bestowed talent to tell the Belizean and Garifuna story to the world through captivating song. Just prior to his illness, Andy P had completed what is undoubtedly one of his most successful years in music. His death so soon after, is bewildering to many who knew him as a healthy, strong and vibrant man.
Wátina was unmistakably Andy’s farewell—prophetic at that—and a careful study of the lyrics and deep spiritual messages knitted so well together by the team – the Garifuna Collective – will testify. The very title of the CD speaks, literally and symbolically, of an unheeded calling, and resisting death.
“Oh God, please change my life this year/I ask you to change my life but please don’t take it away/Please leave me here where I can be a bothersome spirit…” the song says.
But the very nature of the album reflects the deeper message that transcends Wátina, found in the song Lidan Aban (Together), composed by Andy and Aurelio Martinez: “Everybody together, we will lift our voices…Let’s go forward…”
The song says, “Everybody together, we will lift our voices for them to hear/That there is strength in us and that there is progress among Garinagu/Everybody together.
“That which Andy is referring to is about all Garinagu being one,” the lyrics read.
In fact, Andy’s illness brought together hundreds of well-wishers, relatives, friends and fans—mostly Garinagu—as they sang and prayed for his full recovery. Some loved ones were comforted with the thought that Andy could only leave after his life mission is over. Perhaps that final mission was the coming together of his people to celebrate not just his life, but the blessed talents that God has given us for our collective benefit.
Even greater audiences are expected to converge in his memory at the end of this week, when Andy is finally laid to rest. On Friday, a tribute will be held for Andy … then all roads lead to Barranco on Saturday, when Andy will be committed to his resting place and birth land.
President of the National Institute of Culture and History, Yasser Musa, informed us that a series of events are planned in Andy’s honor at the end of the week.
On Friday morning at 10 o‘clock, a tribute will be held at the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts in Belize City. From 5:00 to 9:00 Friday evening, there will be an open-air concert featuring Andy’s colleagues, including Aurelio Martinez and the Garifuna Collective – the group that collaborated with him on his farewell album.
Musa told us that at noon on Saturday, a state funeral will be held in Barranco (Toledo), the Garifuna village where Andy was born. There will be a second tribute to Andy just before his funeral.
Andy’s death is a great loss to the Garifuna nation, Belize, and the world. Condolences have been offered from Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, Paris, New York and UNESCO – which last year made Andy Artist for Peace.
