…While young mother succumbs to illness

Not all stories that begin at the hospital have a happy ending. Such is the case with a story we reported on Friday.

Luwiena Garnett, Sherida’s Sister
“I mi deh right there. I mi di hold ih hand until she tek her last breath. Her brain done dead the docta say.”

Janelle Chanona, Reporting
Shortly before nine o’clock last night, twenty-seven-year old Sherida Garnett died at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.

A sickle cell patient, in the last month, chronic headaches and severe neck pain had rendered the young mother helpless. Tests would reveal that a vein in her head had ruptured and was causing internal bleeding. Doctors advised her to undergo an angiogram to determine treatment options.

When News Five spoke to her on September thirtieth at her home on Berry Street in the St. Martin’s De Porres area, Garnett made a desperate appeal to the public to help raise the three thousand dollars it would take to travel to Merida to undergo the procedure.

Sherida Garnett, September 30, 2005
“Only me and God know what I di go through right now in my head. So whosoever like to help me, cause I want take the test.”

Through the kindness of others, Garnett and her family had raised the three thousand dollars to take the test. But on Wednesday, her condition worsened and she was readmitted to the hospital. In the end, a respirator was the only thing keeping her alive but Luwiena Garnett says her baby sister never gave up hope.

Luwiena Garnett
“She mi fi go today. Today she mi fu go cause she me done get everything… She ask me, cause she mi fu go, so she tell me, Luwiena please watch me daughter, take care of ah fu me. And I tell ah I wah do it.”

In their time of mourning, the Garnett family is conscious of the number of other Belizeans who are sick and in desperate need of medical attention. They offer these words of advice to the public.

Luwiena Garnett
“Weh I woulda say… just have to try dem best, hard, fu get around and try seek yu own help and thing and just no delay, no delay pan the work.”

Sherida Garnett
“I just want to say thanks to the nurses and the doctors for helping me. Thanks to everybody that was praying for me. Only me and God know the situation I am in and what I’m going through, so I just want to say thanks to everybody that help me out.”

Funeral services for Sherida Garnett will be held on Sunday afternoon at three at the Calvary Temple Church in Belize City.