‘We were going to cook and celebrate’ - Fallen cop planned Christmas dinner with mom

Gem Donald knew her daughter, Donique Anderson, was gravely ill but was praying for a miracle. In fact, the mother and daughter were making plans for Christmas dinner, even though Anderson's liver was failing and death appeared imminent.

Anderson, 26, despite being a patient at the University Hospital of the West Indies, had adopted a postive outlook on life and was upbeat about celebrating Christmas with her mom. However, as Donald puts it, "She just couldn't fight any more". She died on December 23, some four years and 10 months after graduating top of the group of 196 constables who gained entry into the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) in January 2019.

"I am trying my best to cope," Donald told THE STAR yesterday. "I was hoping that she would be here with me today. She had a whole heap of plans for Christmas. She told me that I should buy the other meats, but she was going to buy the ham. We were going to cook and celebrate, and she had plans for us to go out and all those type of stuff." Donald said.

A Holland High School past student, Anderson began her journey in the JCF in 2017, but dropped out due to illness. She did not allow the disappointment to kill her dreams of becoming a cop, and re-enrolled in July 2018. Following training with Batch 119, of which she was the only woman among the recruits, she emerged with the highest mark among the recruits.

However, illness slowed her strides as she was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis, a rare disease that occurs when the body's immune system attacks the liver.

Earlier this year, there appeared to be a glimmer of hope when Anderson travelled to the United States of America with the intention of undergoing a liver transplant operation at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, New York. However, she was never placed on a liver transplant waiting list because she did not have medical insurance.

"The preparation was not made right and that was why we had to come back to Jamaica," Donald said. "I had about four persons who wanted to be donors. The JCF send us up there and tell us they made the preparation, but it was not made. They were the ones who purchase the ticket and send us there, but three days after we reached, we realised there was an issue. It was when Donique was in pain we realise that no preparation was made. There was a doctor that we were suppose to see, and we didn't even get the name of the doctor," she said.

"There were persons in America who were trying to get Donique help and we got a health insurance in Harlem, but it did not cover the liver transplant. They tried and it did not work, so the doctor told us they couldn't help any more and she could die at any time. I didn't want her to pass off up there because I didn't have the money to bring her down, so we came home," Donald stated.

On December, 22 Donald said she watched helplessly as her daughter suffered during her final moments.

"My God!," she exclaimed. "When I really stand up and look at Donique suffering, and at that moment I realise that she was going. She couldn't speak to me, but she was conscious and she was just breathing. I knew she was in a lot of pain, and the only thing I could do was just rub her head and talk to her. It was very devastating, because just imagine your child in pain and you can't do anything at all. She was bleeding very hard through her mouth, but I stand up with her to let her know I was still there for her," she said.

Anderson passed away hours later.

Despite her dire condition, Donald said Anderson was looking forward to a full recovery, where she could return to doing the job she has always dreamt of -- protecting and serving Jamaicans as a police officer.

"I was looking forward for her to return to work, and I use to imagine just seeing her back in her uniform. Since she has been working I have never seen her, in person, in her uniform because I live in Trelawny and she was based in Clarendon. Donique loved her job and she would go work every chance she got. But she could not wear any uniform because of how high her tummy was. She was in and out of the hospital, and sometimes she would come out and go work for three days, then she [would go] back in hospital again. She was confident that she was going to beat the sickness and return to work, but God had other plans," Donald said.