Shania Kirton is on the road to recovery

by Anesta Henry

Seventeen-year-old Shania Kirton is no longer in critical condition at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).

Her mother Juanita Cave told Barbados TODAY moments ago that Shania is now at the Kendall Regional Medical Centre, Miami, and her health condition has drastically improved over the last 36 hours.

Shania left the island on Friday and arrived in Miami on an air ambulance early Saturday.

“I made the decision to bring my daughter from QEH to come to Miami. They are now running tests and the results have not come back as yet. But she is doing way better in less than 36 hours. She is no longer in an induced coma, she is not on life support and she is breathing on her own. She is not talking and she has to do physical therapy.

Last Monday, while sitting outside of the Intensive Care Unit at QEH where her daughter was hooked up to life support, a tearful Cave appealed to Barbadians to donate blood to the teenager who had been in an induced coma for the past three weeks.

As she made the urgent call, the distraught mother explained that doctors were trying to figure out why her daughter who was diagnosed with Sickle Cell Anemia at three months old in New York City, United States, where she was born, was experiencing the serious health challenges currently affecting her.

At the time, Cave said Shania had pneumonia, her left “lung was destroyed, and she was battling a fever “that would not go”.

“She was in bed lying down for three weeks in an induced coma with an IV. My daughter was only reacting to when you call her name; opening her eyes and shutting it down. When she got here on Saturday morning, my daughter’s eyes were all opened and she recognized people. She didn’t need to be on the vent [ventilators] at all. The doctor told me by the next day, which is Sunday, she would be breathing on her own, which she did,” Cave said.

The mother said though she was awaiting her daughter’s tests results, she felt somewhat relieved just to see Shania breathing on her own and doctors now telling her that “she would be okay”.

“I feel great. I feel wonderful. I feel relieved,” she said.

Cave revealed that her appeal for persons to donate blood to her daughter received an overwhelming response. She said several people even sent her proof that they went and donated blood to Shania.

However, the mother said she was especially touched that hundreds shared her daughter’s story published in last Monday’s Barbados TODAY E-paper, Facebook page, and other platforms.

 Cave said she was also thankful to those readers who wished her daughter well, offered her words of encouragement and assured her that they would keep Shania in their prayers.

Cave also thanked those who donated to a go fund me account for Shania.

“Without the prayers and the love from you guys, this would have never happened. So again I thank you for coming out and supporting my daughter, all those donations would be going to help her out,” Cave said on a recorded video she sent to Barbados TODAY.

She asked Barbadians to keep praying for Shania.