Tears flow for 10-year-old Saadiq

Ten-year-old Grant, a Standard Three pupil, died last week Thursday after battling a "mystery illeness" for almost a month at the San Fernando General Hospital. All of Grant’s vital internal organs failed, forcing doctors to place her on life support.

Grant fell ill at school, but doctors suspected she contracted the deadly Meningococcal meningitis.

That was ruled out and even as Grant’s medical condition worsened at the Intensive Care Unit, doctors still remained baffled by her illness.

An autopsy performed on Grant’s body on Friday at the Forensic Science Complex lists renal failure as the cause of death. The child’s mother Joanne Joseph, collapsed and fainted as the milk-white coffin bearing Grant’s body was wheeled towards the altar. Grant’s best friend, schoolgirl Stephanie Jagessar, eulogised her classmate, "I will miss my best friend, Saadiq. I will miss her laugh because when she laughed, she made everyone around her, including me, happy."

Another classmate, Kassandra Sharma, overcome with tears, said, "Saadiq surely had a heart made of pure gold, but God has called her home and now she watches over us from Heaven."

The school’s choir rendered a song in tribute to Saadiq, titled, "Holy Spirit, We Welcome You." Officiating at the service was Rev Keith Simmons who in his short sermon, urged scores of mourners to accept the reality of death.

Each person, he said, must ensure that his life is right with God.

"When death comes knocking at your door, you all better be prepared so that you will ensure that your soul goes to Heaven," Rev Simmons said.