The remains of Shaniya Persaud, the seven-year-old who was severely burnt in a fire that gutted her Mon Repos North, East Coast Demerara (ECD) home more than a month ago, will be returned to Guyana for a funeral service.
Local representative of the Saving Hands Emergency Aid (SHEA) Sita Sugrim told Stabroek News that it is the organisation’s plan to have Persaud’s remains transported back to Guyana once they have been released from the Shriners Hospital in Galveston, Texas, where she was being treated.
Sugrim explained that Persaud’s remains are expected to be transferred to a funeral home in the United States (US) today after which arrangements will be made with a local funeral home, followed by travel preparations.
“SHEA would like to thank everyone that donated or assisted in some form or the other, especially the doctors and their teams for their incredible efforts to save Shaniya,” Sugrim said.
Persaud succumbed to her injuries on Sunday, a day after the organisaiton announced that doctors had given her a poor chance of recovery.
On Saturday, the NGO had disclosed that one of Persaud’s legs, a few of her fingers and a section of one of her ears were removed on Friday night.
SHEA had explained that despite doctors’ “incredible” efforts, Persaud’s wounds were not healing.
The Mon Repos Primary School student sustained second and third degrees burns to 97% of her body in the fire, which started around 1 am on August 5th at her house at Lot 101 Mon Repos North.
At the time of the fire, Shaniya and her brothers, Akeem Persaud, 9 and Brandon Anthony, 13, had been left home alone as their mother, Samantha Gayadin, was attending a wedding in the community.
The origin of the fire remains unknown.
A decision was made to have Persaud taken overseas after local doctors declared that not much could be done for her here.
Persaud, who was initially said to be recovering well after undergoing several surgeries, departed Guyana for emergency medical treatment on August 10th.
Due to the severity of her burns, she was transported via an air ambulance.
She was accepted to the Texas-based hospital, where she was being treated free of cost.
