Help Adrianna find a home

Westmoreland burn victim 13-year-old Adrianna Laing and her father are now facing the prospect of homelessness.

Adrian Laing, who is currently in the United States with his daughter, told The Sunday Gleaner that Adrianna is now being fitted with a prosthetic leg and that with everything being in place, they should return to Jamaica in mid-January.

However, the father was staying with family members in Jamaica following the tragic house fire that killed his three sons – nine-year-old Adrianno and seven-year-old twins Jorden and Jayden – and has since been given a definite move date and now has nowhere to live.

“When Adrianna returns, she will have nowhere to live as the house was destroyed,” Adrian Laing told The Sunday Gleaner in a telephone interview from Boston where he was by his daughter’s bedside.

Left with extensive life-threatening burns from the tragic incident on September 4 at the family home in Westmoreland, Adrianna has been in the United States for almost three months undergoing a series of operations to save her life.

Stephen Joseph, project manager for Sanmerna Foundation, which has played a major role in getting help for Adrianna, told The Sunday Gleaner that so far the teen has undergone 18 surgeries and is now at the Shriners Children’s Hospital in Boston where she will be fitted with the prosthetic leg.

“She is ahead of schedule in her recovery and will be leaving the United States earlier than anticipated but the question is, where will she live when she returns to the island?” he said.

Joseph pointed out that Adrianna is a special child and will need special accommodation when she returns to Jamaica.

To this end, he is appealing to corporate Jamaica, the Government and all who can help to assist the teen and her father with somewhere to call home when they return.

“Jamaicans have been very supportive of her and we are asking for them to step up one more time to assist this child,” Joseph said.

Following the ordeal that took the lives of her three younger brothers and almost killed her, Adrianna was first taken to the University Hospital of the West Indies for treatment for third-degree burns.

However, she needed to be flown to the United States for further treatment, and some US$40,000 was raised to get her there.

Adrianna was treated at the Joseph M Still Burn Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where her care was overseen by lead doctor, Zaheed Hassan.

After undergoing some 18 life-saving operations, Adrianna was transferred to Shriners Children’s Hospital for rehabilitation.

There she was fitted with a prosthetic leg.

Grateful for the assistance they have received so far, both Joseph and her father are appealing to Jamaicans once more to help Adrianna.

HOW YOU CAN ASSIST

Contributions can be made to either Sanmerna Foundation or NCB bank account 64375-622.

editorial@gleanerjm.com