(Jamaica Star) Latisha greeted the news team with a welcoming smile when THE WEEKEND STAR visited her at her Corporate Area home. However, behind that smile is anguish and pain.
Not only is she mourning the death of her son who passed away from cancer last Wednesday, but she lives with the burden of losing six other boys, all tragically.
She said that it is her faith that has kept her going. “I am not yet baptised but it is my Jehovah Witness’ faith that keeps me going,” Latisha said. “I cry a lot for them because they are my children and I love them. I am still grateful that Jehovah kept me alive. People always say that I am very strong to endure all of this, but trust me, I am not the one doing it, it’s Jehovah.”
OCCASIONAL MEMORY LOSS
Latisha is suffering from occasional memory loss, and had to seek the assistance of her only remaining son to give the names of all her deceased children. She exhaled deeply as she recalled her sons’ deaths.
Dave, who was 15 when he died, drowned in 1985 after he was allegedly pushed into the water by someone with whom he went out to sea.
A few years later, her second boy Tony was killed at his gate by gunmen.
His murder was followed by the disappearance of Ray and Leroy, who were both shot in the 2000s, but their bodies were never recovered for burial.
The tears were still flowing when another son, Maurice, was killed.
And then in 2018, Al succumbed to injuries he received in an explosion at work.
Now, Wayne, her eldest son, has succumbed to cancer.
Her only living son listened as she shared the stories. He said that although he has two sisters, he badly misses his brothers and often wonders if he is next. “Mi worry about it sometimes and the thought of death crossed my mind a lot because it is like my family is marked for death,” he said. “I tend to brush it from my mind every time the thought comes across because I have three children to live for.”
Latisha says this son is now left with the burden of burying Wayne, who had no savings. She said she is also financially challenged, as her only earnings come from recycling plastic bottles. “I can’t even buy a shirt to bury him, much less a pants. I don’t know how I am going to bury him. I really can’t afford it,” she said.
