Adrianna Laing planning dad’s birthday party while recovering from burns

WESTERN BUREAU:

GETTING TO spend time with his daughter is the perfect heart-warming birthday gift for Adrian Laing, father of 13-year-old fire victim Adrianna Laing who is recovering well after 17 surgeries.

The teenager was the lone survivor of a tragic house fire that killed her brothers, eight-year-old Adrianno Laing and seven-year-old twins Jayden and Jorden Laing, in Springfield, Westmoreland, on September 4.

Adrianna will need a prosthesis after losing her lower left leg to burns from the incident.

However, that his daughter is alive and in cheerful spirits is all that matters to the elder Laing.

“I have been here three days now, and each and every moment I spend with Adrianna, it is like she is just improving, just showing me what she can do.

“She is a fighter, and she just wants to get up and walk. She is planning my birthday party today,” Laing said with a smile.

He was speaking Tuesday during a remote press conference where a progress update was being given by Dr Zaheed Hassan, president of the Augusta, Georgia-based Joseph M. Still Burn Center.

Hassan, who headed the medical team that performed the teenager’s 17 surgeries, said that while Adrianna needs additional skin grafts, including for her upper eyelid, and has also lost some fingers on her right hand, he believes she will be able to function normally once her treatment is over.

Seven surgeons and three paediatric personnel have been involved in skin grafting or skin-culture treatment and ReCell – a medical device that processes skin samples in the operating theatre into a cell suspension to be sprayed or dripped on to a wound.

“I think she is going to be fully functional. She is young, so with the prosthesis of the left leg, she should be running and walking in no time. I am not saying she is going to run like Usain Bolt, but she is going to be running,” Hassan said.

Hassan is hopeful that Adrianna will, in the future, emerge psychologically unscathed from the tragedy.

“Her chest is burnt, so as she grows up as a young lady, there may be issues about her breasts, but in our experience, we have done reconstructive surgery to make that acceptable,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Laing expressed gratitude to stakeholders who financed his daughter’s transportation to the United States and subsequent emergency treatment.

“I want to say thanks to the Most High to have brought me here, and I want to thank Dr Hassan and the team, and the people all across the world, for their tremendous work. It is not easy for me, but I am holding on,” said Laing.

Up to Tuesday, Adrianna spent 64 days in hospital since she was flown out of Jamaica on September 8. Adrianna’s medical care was sponsored by the Sanmera Foundation, in partnership with the Jamaican diaspora, the Government, and other interest groups.

A GoFundMe account has been started to provide further assistance for the teenager’s recovery. The account details can be accessed at https://gofund.me/8c86de79.