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Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and his wife, Eloise at a Unity Labour Party event in late August. (Photo: Lance Neverson/Facebook)
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and his wife, Eloise at a Unity Labour Party event in late August. (Photo: Lance Neverson/Facebook)
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The wife of Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, Eloise, is battling a “potentially debilitating” spinal cyst, while his second son, Adam — from a previous marriage — has been diagnosed with “a debilitating cancer”.

The prime minister disclosed the medical conditions on Wednesday during his weekly show on the state-owned NBC Radio.

Gonsalves made the disclosure as he urge citizens not to lament over their various situations.

He said that some people might dismissively say he could talk because he is prime minister.

“Well, in some respects, that is true. It’s an honour to be the prime minister and there are certain things I don’t suffer like other persons, but it’s not an easy life,” said Gonsalves, who will this year seek re-election to a fifth five-year term in office.

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“I mean to be up 4 o’clock in the morning to work and work consistently all throughout the day and late into the night. But in addition to that, I am a human being you know. I need supports in all sorts of different ways.

“At the moment, for instance, two people very close to me, one of them my son, Adam, he’s [Minister of Finance] Camillo’s younger brother. Camillo is close to him, very, very close,” Gonsalves said of the two sons from his first marriage.

“Adam has been struck by a debilitating cancer. He is only 38 years old,” the prime minister said.

He then went on to speak about his wife’s condition. 

“And then, I have to be making arrangements to go away for about a week or so. Eloise may have to stay longer. I am hoping that I can leave maybe sometime next weekend, God’s willing,” the prime minister said.

“Eloise has a cyst growing on her spine and we had known for a few months and we have had it investigated and we consulted a neurosurgeon in Cuba, consulted in Trinidad and there is an American of Indian descent who came to St. Vincent who we got to know, who is a top neurosurgeon and he works in Boston, I want to go and see.”

The prime minister said that the cyst has the potential to significantly affect his wife.

“It’s potentially debilitating the way the cyst has grown and it causes great discomfort and she could end up in a wheelchair and it’s — we don’t know –well we will find out more.

“And it’s tricky business but one hopes for the best… but I have to be strong for them, I have to be strong for those around me, I have to be strong for myself and my staff, I have to be strong in the country. So that sometimes people — you can’t involve in lamentations and there are persons who, of course, in far worse situations. They could be dead. You know what I mean.”

He mentioned that his government recently had to help a nurse who is in her 20s with in excess of EC$40,000 to help to do a neurosurgical operation on her brain.

“Of course, in Eloise’s case I can’t go to the government for any resources to help with medical so we do like what everybody does. You try and organise it, whatever financing.

“But I was really onto the issue, what is triggered in my head is the issue of lamentations. We don’t have to be negative. That’s not how Chatoyer and the Garifuna confronted British colonialism,” he said, referring to the country’s national Hero, Joseph Chatoyer.

“That’s not how in the depths of a condition called slavery that our African forebears found strength to build and to come out of what is worse than Dante’s hell and the same thing with the Madeiran and Indian indentured servant.

“And we have built a viable civilisation. We have a lot of challenges and we have some tremendous vulnerability. Don’t bother with people with pie in the sky solutions and mirages,” the prime minister said.

“Mirage is for carnival day, not life, living and production,” he said in an apparent reference to a carnival band.

25 replies on “PM’s wife, son afflicted by ‘debilitating’ spinal cyst, cancer”

  1. Mr Prime minister I know you are a very strong person, I am very sorry to hear about what is happening with your love ones, have faith in God and he will see you through.

  2. George Caesar. says:

    Prime minister Gonsalves I am sorry to hear about what is happening to your family,Just remember Job. I will be praying for you all.Think positive,stay focus and be strong.

  3. Nathan 'Jolly' Green says:

    With a sick family who should come first he should stop playing the great white revolutionary the five term PM and do what any decent person would do and give his family 110 percent. Anything other than that is grossly indecent.

  4. Nathan 'Jolly' Green says:

    This article should be only about his wife and son but he cannot help weaving politics in not it. For God’s sake stop it.comrade, it takes away the.tfue sympathy your family deserve. You really are something else.

  5. Whilst every decent minded Vincentian will sympathize with the family I find it obscene for Ralph Gonsalves to come here seeking sympathy for himself and actually use the situation to electioneer.

    Whenever he has been ill in the past it has all been very secret.

    Time to shut up Ralph and do the right thing for your family, they should be your most important consideration at this time.

    Talking of financing and medical resource problems is outrageous. You are probably the wealthiest family in SVG, if not the Eastern Caribbean.

    We have known each other for 40 years, he knows how I feel about how he treats his family. I have never approved of anything he has done to take disgrace home to his wife and kids.

  6. Kalinago Justice says:

    What the power of the people is too weak to deal with,other forces can deal with it with righteous judgement! There’s something called karma!

  7. No one should wish health problems on others regardless of political party, skin color or other…. Keep in mind most all of those that are not wealthy cannot fly overseas to get treatment. the article mentions someone, a nurse, who got help for an operation on her brain.
    coincidentally…
    I know a young unmarried woman who went to nursing school but works in agriculture and also has a brain cancer. She has put all expenses on hold and has been saving everything she earns for the past year, shen she was diagnosed, in order to fly to Trinidad one day for treatment. We will “pitch-in” to help. Thus far the government has refused to help her!
    I am sure that there are at least hundreds of similar cases all over this country at this time.

    Healthcare is expensive!!! It can cause a very high rise in taxes.
    I suggest the government stop and reflect on a way to better help those that cannot fly-out and get treatment, in such a way that a “Medical Industrial Complex” or “Big Pharma” cannot continue to suck us dry of the fruits of our labour, but at the same time give hope to the less fortunate.

  8. Grace, Mercy and Peace to you Mr Prime Minister I am encouraged by your valiant display of inner strength and now I am encouraging you to keep your faith growing in the knowledge that the Great Covenant Keeping God will not leave you nor forsake you. We are praying with you sir
    Bishop Cecil G Riley
    Freedom Hall Church of God.

  9. So sorry to hear of the illness that has struck your family. Trust God and leave it in His hands he never disappoints. Praying for you.

  10. So sorry to hear of your wife potentially debilitating spinal cyst, And also of Adams being diagnosed with cancer. God is good lets hope for the best, the neurosurgeon will take very good care of your wife, just be strong, I will say a prayer for the Family. stay safe.

  11. Why he has to politicize everything even the misfortunes of his family? Is he looking for a synpath vote? Gave the impression that he was untouchable and invincible. Never apologise for any wrong that he did to others. High and mighty. We are mortals and subject to the vagaries of life no matter how much power we think we may have. No

  12. I’m so sorry for your immediate love ones medical conditions, and for you MP. You’re a man of God. Place your faith in Him. He is The Physian of all Physicians with all The Healing Powers.
    To your wife and Son, may they place their trust in God FAITHFULLY BELIEVING that they will be healed. NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD IN CONTROL.BLESSINGS TO ALL.

  13. To PM Ralph Gonsalves,I am really sorry to hear about you wife and son. I will be keeping them both in prayer. Praying for a miracle..God is able just Trust and Obey!!! Blessings to you and your Family…..Love and Regards Carol Marques.

  14. PM is a strong man that believe in the almighty God,the God that heals, hold on to that faith and everything will be ok

  15. A lot of folks in SVG have lost loved ones due to the poor health care system , lost their entire savings trying their best to find out why their loved ones are ill and the Piper and his family spend tax payers money seeking treatment overseas.Open your eyes Vincentians BLM you are in dire need of fresh young minds to run the country help build SVG it is getting ridiculous now

  16. Nathan Jolly Green says:

    Ezekiel 18:20 tells us, “The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son.”

    Ezekiel 18:20 shows, each of us is responsible for our own sins, and we must bear the punishment for them. We cannot share our guilt with another, nor can another be held responsible for our transgressions. There is, however, one exception to this rule, and it applies to all mankind. One man bore the sins of others and paid the penalty for them so sinners could become completely righteous and pure in the sight of God. That man is Jesus Christ, who came into the world to exchange His perfection for our sin. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus was punished for us.

    So his punishment is yet to come.

  17. Nathan Jolly Green says:

    Pelagianism: This view says that Adam’s sin had no effect upon the souls of his descendants other than that he provided a sinful example. Adam’s example has influenced those who followed him to also sin. But, according to this view, man has the ability to stop sinning if he simply chooses to. Pelagianism runs contrary to a number of passages that indicate man is hopelessly enslaved by his sins (apart from God’s intervention) and that his good works are “dead” or worthless in meriting God’s favor (Ephesians 2:1–2; Matthew 15:18–19; Romans 7:23; Hebrews 6:1; 9:14).

  18. The Father of Creation is sending a message Mr. PM.

    Now is the time to gracefully step back and let the 5th term dream go…
    He wants to see your true colour of laboring with Love, Love for family!

    Your wife is a great woman of character. Mrs G lent you to the people.
    Now is the time to show her your love and appreciation…to tell her thanks
    and spend quality time, by her side.

    Pass the mantle and look inward, HOME!

    Family is more important!!!
    Fight for them, not for politics!

  19. This is very sad, but never underestimate the power of prayers, Mr Prime Minister. I have loved ones who have been struck down by cancer, even recently, and I must say, it is a very very awful thing. I pray that they will have a full recovery.

  20. I prayer all goes well with your wife and son. As humans we must stay focus on the message. There is no need to involve politics in this really sad situation. This is all about your family. Stop being like Donald Trump. Leave your political self out of this situation. Also, invest in the health care system of St. Vincent and the Grenadines so that Vincentian can receive their medical treatment in their home country. Invest in the state of the art hospital. Sad! Sad! Look for the health of your people Mr. Prime Minister. We need a good hospital. Get rid of that ghetto hospital in the capital. I once visit that building when I was in St. Vincent holiday and I started to cry after visiting the men’s ward. It is sad how the building looks. All these four terms and no one thought about the healthcare system. Disgraceful! May God help the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. I appreciate the airport but we need to work on reconstructing a brand new hospital.

  21. Val it was alleged that the people prefer him than their health. One of my friends who is still working there said to me that I will not want to come there while I am well much more being sick, its not the same when we were working there together.

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