ATALLIA Williams should have been sitting nine subjects in the 2013 Caribbean Secondary Examinations but instead she is lying unconscious in a hospital bed nine months after being involved in a motor vehicle accident.

Williams was among several students of Brown’s Town High School in St Ann who were injured when the bus in which they were travelling collided with a truck on September 5, 2012 in St D’Acre, killing the bus driver.

The Toyota Hiace minibus, driven by Christopher Hall, was transporting several students on the afternoon shift of Brown’s Town High from the Aboukir area when it collided with the truck.

Williams, whose neck was broken in four places, was admitted to the University Hospital of the West Indies where she remained until two weeks ago when she was transferred to St Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital.

Williams, who was

16 years old at the time, initially underwent several successful surgeries; however a problem surfaced during the last surgery, leaving her in a coma since last November.

Nadine Beckett Miller is in pain, having to watch her third child lie in the same place daily; however, she is not giving up hope.

“Mi nah give up hope, none at all. I want those who are praying for her to continue,” Beckett Miller told the Jamaica Observer North East.

Beckett Miller believes strongly that her “Boonu”, as she affectionately calls her daughter, will regain consciousness. But while the mother is patiently waiting for that to happen, she now needs some assistance to take home her daughter.

The mother, who expressed extreme gratitude for the financial help received so

far, said she is

making another appeal for additional assistance.

Beckett Miller needs help in acquiring a mattress, a portable oxygen machine, a suction machine and a nebuliser to take Williams home to continue her recuperation.

Williams’ spleen, the mother explained, was removed and this has affected her body’s ability to fight infections.

“The sooner, the better,” Beckett Miller explained, as she stressed the urgency of getting her daughter out of the hospital where she is vulnerable to all types of infections. As such, she has been advised by doctors to take her daughter home. According to Beckett Miller, her daughter became infected with chicken pox while in hospital.

With a medical bill of almost $6 million and an additional $70,000 owed to a caregiver along with the daily expense of medication, food and other necessities, Beckett Miller is finding it hard to cope financially. To add to her mounting problems, Beckett Miller’s car was stolen a month ago, while she was in Kingston attending to her daughter.

“We got up the Monday morning ready to go to the hospital; when we stepped out, the car was gone,” she said.

The car, which her son operated, was also a source of income for the family.

The mother, who usually travels overseas, has to give up working to stay with her daughter. All responsibility now rests with her husband who also has to ensure their other children go to school.

No insurance money has been paid to assist Williams, according to Beckett Miller, who said the insurance company is still awaiting the medical report from the hospital.

The experience for the family has been devastating as Beckett Miller said she has suffered several nervous breakdowns.

“I am coping a little better now,” she said, but added that the situation has been affecting her other children.

“They don’t like to see her how she is,” she said.

One of her sons who is in high school developed fear for travelling following the incident.

Her eldest daughter’s studies, she said, have also been affected as she now has to help the younger children.

Getting Williams home is Beckett Miller’s deep desire, as she believes her daughter can be nursed back to good health.

With her training as a practical nurse, Beckett Miller will be her daughter’s caregiver at home.

Those who want to assist Williams may do so by making a donation to Jamaica National Building Society account number

105-14-526 (Nadine Beckett).