CLAUDETTE Grant’s story of struggle, having had to battle years of pain and misfortune and still managing to stay alive, is one she believes would make a good book.

However, becoming an author is not what her main focus is at this time as she faces the reality of needing emergency surgery to remove what she says is a large ovarian cyst, currently the source of excruciating pain.

She told the Jamaica Observer on Sunday that the cost of the surgery to remove the cyst is more than $1.5 million. She shared her cellphone number (876-589-1468) so that people wishing to assist may call and make queries. Grant said she is in a position to provide all necessary information to potential donors.

Though she prides herself on being strong, Grant said she tends to get depressed sometimes when she thinks of her mounting problems. She does not have the personal finances that would allow her to solve this current problem and therefore is appealing for help from the public to reach the $1.5-million target for the surgery.

“The doctor said the surgery will cost the amount I told you, and I don’t have any money. Remember that I have Hannahlisa battling with,” she said, in relation to her young daughter.

The young Hall has suffered numerous strokes over the years, which has significantly impacted her educational and other areas of development at such a critical point in her life, the distraught mother said. The situation faced by Hall is a very costly one, and Grant said that over the years she has not been able to hold down a steady job because she has had to constantly tend to her daughter.

Grant is also the mother of two sons who are older than Hall, but they are not in a position to offer monetary assistance to their sister and mother at this time.

Hannahlisa Hall in hospital.

“These things make me worry because I have been fighting for my daughter for years and now I am going through this. It is rough. I am appealing for help so that I can do the surgery and related procedures. Sometimes I feel like something is chopping out my belly bottom. I am feeling a lot of pain because of this thing.

“I feel bad so often. On Saturday I felt like I was going to faint; I had to just remain in bed. I have fibroids as well but the doctor said the cyst is the major problem. Maybe they will have to remove the entire womb. I don’t plan to have anymore children. I just want to feel better,” Grant told the
Observer.

And as if these challenges were not already enough, the mother of three disclosed that in 2004 she was shot while being pregnant with her second son. She said she was at a cookshop waiting to be served when a gunman shot her, pointing out that she has lived through many ordeals.

“The 16th of this month will make it 22 years exactly. I was at a set-up and walked around the road to go and buy a food. While I was waiting on the food I heard a man say ‘Watch it.’ Other men were sitting top side where the food was being sold. Most likely, one among them was the intended target.

“As the only woman there, I was the one who was shot — and I was shot twice. The first one lodged in my buttocks, the second was in my leg. I didn’t even know I was shot, I didn’t even know how I reached on the ground with my eight months belly. That bullet is still inside me.

“I have been through a lot and I am still here fighting on. My story is a book that can be written,” she said, sharing that had the bullet gone elsewhere she could have lost her second son as well as her life.

Happily, she gave birth to a healthy son in August that year.

Hannahlisa Hall flashes a bright smile for the camera.

In relation to her daughter, Grant said previously that she was grateful to God for keeping her family strong despite the daunting situation.

Hall was diagnosed with full-blown sickle cell disease shortly after birth, according to Grant. In 2017 she suffered the first of four strokes. Prior to that ordeal she was a regular patient in hospital, sometimes two to three times per month.

Grant highlighted that Hall had suffered the four strokes by the time she was nine years old.

“She has made it to this point but she is still suffering from seizures. The seizures [affect] her very regularly,” Grant explained.

“The doctor gives her seizure medication but, to me, it is not really helping. The most important part of the situation is that I still give thanks for life for her. There are many situations out there, and by the time you look, an individual is gone. On June 16 she will be 15 years old and she still has life, so I just continue to pray and trust God.

Grant said that since she was much younger Hall has spent a significant amount of time going in and out of hospital. She told the
Observer that each time the child is admitted there is a bill she can’t afford, and that causes more problems for her when she can’t readily pay the fees.

“In December, she was admitted at the University Hospital of the West Indies for about three weeks and the bill was $326,000 and all now it don’t pay. They call me every time about it. She went to school one Friday morning and came back home with a fever and a cold. I took her to the hospital and they said she had shortness of breath and admitted her because of her history with sickle cell and seizures,” Grant said.