Fire victim succumbs to injuries

The family of Roosevelt Browne is left devastated by the death of the fire victim who was burnt in a house fire a week ago.
The 12-year-old died at the Mount St John’s Medical Centre yesterday morning with his father at his Intensive Care Unit bedside.
“He was deteriorating according to the doctors. His blood pressure was going down, his heart rate went down. I told the doctors I wanted to get closer to him. The machines didn’t have any readings and I went in and called him and everything went back to normal. But after a while everything went dead,” the distraught father said.
He told OBSERVER media that his son’s health rapidly declined before his eyes. Browne said that having realized the severity of his son’s situation, he wanted to be at his side.
“I never really go close to him because you have to put on a lot of things to go in the isolated area, I always saw him through the glass. After he was deteriorating and after 9 am I spoke to him, he didn’t respond. Then he was gone,” Browne said.
The story of this student of the Mary E Pigott School captivated the nation when a social media video captured him walking from the burning inferno before collapsing in the arms of a fire fighter who hurried him to a waiting ambulance.
The 12-year-old sustained extensive burns to his face, chest, back, arms and legs, in the house fire, while visiting his aunt and cousins in lower Ottos. Doctors told the father that the Cashew Hill boy sustained second and third degree burns to more than 65 per cent of his body.
Wednesday, Browne had asked the nation to continue to pray that his only child would become medically stable enough to be airlifted for treatment abroad.
However, yesterday, news of the child’s death rocked the nation with many on social media asking what had caused the youngster to go from being mobile to dead, after just one week of treatment at the Mount St John’s Medical Centre.
A post from his school’s social media page stated that the principal, teachers, staff and students are mourning the loss of Roosevelt Browne.
“There are no words that can describe this pain. Your parting has left a void in the hearts of those who you have touched. Your quiet personality and your beautiful smile will be missed by all especially by your classmates and your teachers. Roosevelt, you’ve gained your angelic wings so soar on until we meet again. The saddest word, goodbye,” the post read.
Roosevelt would have celebrated his 13th birthday on September 11.