‘Praises to God’ - Grateful burn victim Alecia King returns home

When Alecia King gave her rendition to Sam Smith's hit song, Too Good at Goodbyes, and dedicated the lyrics to her guardian, Julian Mendez, those inside the Innovation Gallery at AC Marriot Hotel got teary-eyed.

After six gruelling months of intensive life-saving treatments at Shriners Burn Centre in Texas, USA, the burnt victim has returned home and is smiling.

"I truly would like to thank the Sanmerna Association for believing in me, and reaching out to me to give me that victory. Right now, I am giving praises to God and to Shriners Hospital, who literally fixed my whole body. At one point I didn't believe that I could do all of this again. I just want to thank everyone for everything," she said.

She also performed a soulful rendition of the song, For Your Glory. She said that Mendez, who she calls mommy, sang it to her daily while she was hospitalised.

Last August, the teenager was set ablaze after she was doused with gasolene as she slept at a relative's house in Redwood, St Catherine. The now 18-year-old received third degree burns all over her body. Days after the incident, the Sanmerna Foundation, headed by managing director Robert White, was able to have King, who was barely clinging to life, flown to the US for treatment.

Last week, Stephen Joseph, of the Sanmerna Foundation, revealed that doctors were at one point moments away from declaring King dead after one of the procedures.

"There were moments that we thought she was losing the battle as she had some really bad days, but she has pulled through. There was this moment when she did a surgery and she was just bleeding out and the doctors could barely do anything to stop it. They had said that if she didn't respond within the next three hours then they would have issued her death certificate and she responded to them in two hours and 58 minutes," he said.

Meanwhile, Mendez, who kept King in her care and protection after both her parents died, never left her side during the ordeal.

"I am happy and excited. I stayed with her the whole six months. I was there with her when the doctors thought she wouldn't make it, but I just kept praying. God is good and there were times when the doctor said I should stay with her as they didn't know what would happen, and I just prayed even harder. This is just a miracle," she said.

Having been the beneficiary of goodwill and miracle, King, who had aspirations of joining the Jamaica Defence Force, now wants a career in medicine.