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 flown back to Guyana on Thursday for a funeral service.
This disclosure was made yesterday morning by Non-Governmental Organisa-tion Saving Hands Emergency Aid (SHEA).
In a Facebook post, SHEA said that following an autopsy, Persaud’s remains were released to a funeral home in the United States.
Upon her return here, her body will be taken to Sandy’s Funeral Home in Georgetown and funeral arrangements will then be made by her family.
“After completing all required postmortem procedures, Shaniya’s body has been released from the hospital to the funeral home in the United States. We have made all arrangements for her to be transported back to Guyana on September 19,” SHEA said.
Persaud succumbed to her injuries last Sunday, a day after the organisation announced that doctors had given her a poor chance of recovery.
The NGO had disclosed then that one of Persaud’s legs, a few of her fingers and a section of one of her ears were removed the 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.
