WATCH: Burn victim Alecia King grateful to be home
Burn victim Alecia King, who endured a harrowing experience last August when she was doused with flammable liquid and set ablaze, received a heartwarming welcome on Tuesday as she returned home from the Shriners Hospital in Miami, Florida. There, she underwent life-saving treatment for her injuries.
Allegations are that King was asleep on August 24 when her ex-boyfriend Antwone Grey, set the then 17-year-old ablaze. She was rushed to the Linstead Hospital, then moved to the University Hospital of the West Indies in the Intensive Care Unit, before her family approached Sanmerna Foundation for help in getting her overseas to save her life.
During King’s welcome home reception at the AC Hotel, Robert White, director of the Sanmerna Foundation, recounted the journey of support extended to King, highlighting the critical role the foundation played in facilitating her treatment abroad.
“Alecia, welcome home. The Lord has brought you back home to us safely. I can reflect on August the 24 when I heard what happened to Alecia and somehow the Lord said to me ‘Prepare, they are going to be at your door tomorrow’. The next morning, on the 25th of August at 7:30 in the morning, there was Alecia’s family waiting. I said ‘how may I help?’ and they said ‘Mr White everyone that get burn in Jamaica they run to Sanmerna Foundation for help and we need help for Alecia we want to save her life’ and from there the journey began,” White said.
He went on to recount King’s ordeal, including when she came within minutes of dying during her six-month treatment at the hospital, and expressed gratitude to God for saving the teen and taking her back to Jamaica safely.
READ: 17-year-old burn victim shows signs of recovery
King also expressed gratitude to God and the Sanmerna Foundation during the reception, which doubled as a birthday celebration.
“I truly would like to thank the Sanmerna Foundation for believing in me, reaching out to me and giving me that victory so that I could be here standing right now and giving the praise to God and thank Him for the Shriners Hospital. Those people, they fixed, literally fixed my whole body,” King stated.
She added that she had doubts about her recovery, but that the staff at the Shriners Hospital helped to ease her mind.
“At one point I didn’t believe I could do all this again and those people made me believe. I also want to thank the AC Hotel for accommodating me and I appreciate everything that you have been doing,” King said.
Grey, the man suspected of burning King, is still being sought by the police. The police have added him to the wanted list, stating that he is being sought for offences of arson, attempted murder and assault occasioning bodily harm.
