AT 41 years old, Kemarie Johnson has been reeling from the effects of stage five kidney disease, but says she is putting up her best fight to deal with the pain in her joints, not being able to breathe on her own and having to be wearing diapers.

The thought of better days being behind her brought her to tears yesterday in the bed assigned to her at the University Hospital of the West Indies a month ago. Currently, her teenage daughter has missed one year of school because she lacked access to a digital device to log in to online classes. On top of that, the youngster takes time out to care for her mother, who is blind in one eye and partially blind in the other.

Throughout the pain, discomfort and tears yesterday, Johnson expressed an urgent need for help to own a house, as the place she lives has become unbearable to live in and described it to be as small as a matches box.

Johnson, in the meantime, has been receiving support from Lawrence Tavern Primary School Builders Club in St Andrew. They have made numerous donations in food items and toiletries to the family and has committed to continue sticking by them.

Before transitioning to Tarrant High School, Johnson’s daughter attended the Lawrence Tavern Primary School and it was from that time that the club advisors became aware of the family’s situation and have dedicated to seeing her life improved.

Even with the pain in her joints and her eyes, Johnson, a resident of east Kingston, said her ultimate goal is to secure a home for herself to save her further embarrassment and disrespect from relatives and then gradually fix her medical issues, which include complications associated with a heart attack she received over a month ago.

“Me woulda want mi daughter fi can go to school and mi would a want mi dialysis fi pay fa and mi woulda want mi eye fi can fix, because mi really want a house. Me family dem give me a one but everyday dem cuss me over it. It was help at the time, but mi cyaa hold in deh. A side way mi affi walk. Me would want someweh fi put mi head and know seh a my place dat.”

Johnson said she made a living buying and selling clothes, women’s underwear and other item before her health made a rapid decline.

Shemeka Wedderburn, guidance counsellor at the Lawrence Tavern Primary School, has appealed to corporate Jamaica and Prime Minister Andrew Holness to step in and render assistance to the sick woman.

“… She basically lives in a garrison and right now it is being plagued by violence. She needs a home for herself and her daughter. Outside of that, the daughter needs help to get back to school and stay in school while her mother needs medical attention, getting dialysis done twice a week and doing the surgery on the eye. It’s a whole list of things. Maybe the prime minister [could] give them a home,” Wedderburn said.

A representative from the Builders Club at Lawrence Tavern Primary School added that the medication Johnson requires each month is very expensive and reinforced the call for Johnson to be given assistance.