Woman begs for help to bury her daughter

Patricia Campbell could not hold back the tears at the mention of her daughter's name. Talking to herself for a brief moment, she willed herself to hold the faith.

"Don't cry. Hold it Patricia. Hold it. Don't let it break you down," she whispered.

Campbell's tears came as she told THE STAR that she needs help to bury her daughter, Anterice Smart, who died from pneumonia in December.

She said that Smart, 40, spent a month in the Kingston Public Hospital before she took her last breath on December 19, 2019.

Since then, Campbell, who also has a son, said that she has sought help, but has been met with closed doors at every corner.

"I went to the insurance place to get a funeral grant. Them a go tell mi that I need a birth certificate and I need to pay for an express one in order to get the grant. I don't have that type of money. That is why I am here because I would like to bury my daughter by the end of the month, but I don't have the first cent," she said.

Campbell, 64, said that she became the breadwinner of the family roughly a year ago after her daughter and son fell ill almost at the same time.

The frail woman uses crutches to get around as she lost her right leg 29 years ago. But she did not allow her disability to hinder her progress.

"They (her children) both used to work but when they got ill, I had to do something because a just me and them. Dem father died years a go and mi know seh if he was alive, mi woulda alright. Mi wouldn't a face this right now," the distraught mother said. "I can't work really but mi get the likkle pension. I also get money like when people have mail to deliver and they send me to do it or when they want something to buy, they will send me to buy it and dem give me a thing. There are times when mi get some food items from friends and sometimes strangers."

She is asking people to help her because she is not in the position to pay for her daughter's burial.

"I am unable to bury her. I am asking for some assistance so that I can pay the burial home to put her down. They said that I need to pay them J$270,000," she cried.

Anyone who is able to assist Campbell may call her at 876-510-2134.