Three surgeries down, burn victim steels herself for more

Teenager Adrianna Laing, who sustained severe burn wounds in a Westmoreland house fire that killed her three brothers last week, has undergone a series of life-saving operations at a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.

Stephen Josephs, the project manager of Sanmerna Foundation, which has played a major role in getting help for Adrianna, told The Gleaner that she has, so far, undergone three operations, the latest occurring on Saturday. The procedure lasted five and a half hours.

Josephs said that while she is resting comfortably, Adrianna is slated to have more operations in the coming days.

“She is a fighter and has been fighting through this ordeal,” Josephs said.

Josephs said that reggae music is being played in her hospital room to lift her spirits. Also playing at her bedside are voicenotes sent by school colleagues and other well-wishers.

The 13-year-old is being cared for by lead doctor Zaheed Hassan at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Atlanta.

Adrianna was flown to the United States for treatment on Thursday after the diaspora, companies in Jamaica, the Government, and others rallied to secure the US$40,000 in airlift funding.

Josephs has thanked all those who have rallied to provide assistance.

Jamaica’s consul general in Miami, Oliver Mair, under whose jurisdiction Georgia falls, has also been monitoring her progress and has been providing updates to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.

Mair said that he is in daily contact with both Josephs and the hospital.

Adrianna is the lone survivor of the tragic inferno that took the lives of her three younger brothers, nine-year-old Adrianno Laing and seven-year-old twins Jorden and Jayden Laing, and totally destroyed their home in Westmoreland two Sundays ago.

Adrianna had been admitted to The University Hospital of the West Indies surgical intensive care unit.

– Lester Hinds