Dear readers, my name is Karla Ashley. I am Editor-in-Chief of Islandfuse.com. I wanted to share this story with you for one main reason, our innocent children are dying and they don't have to suffer like this. During the course of our campaign to help save Tamara we came to realize a few things.... people locally and overseas wanted to help, hospitals in the US offer free services, there are charities out there to help causes like this. But through illiteracy and lack of awareness our children are dying. Times are become increasingly desperate. We can not sit around looking for solutions from government, institutions, corporations or hospitals. We as individuals in society need to be more proactive about helping one another. Please read on so you can learn of Tamara's story, how we got involved and maybe you may have some solutions to help save others like her......www.islandfuse.com/tellus.html

On behalf of the Derriel family I would also like to thank those of you who made donations, gave advice and and offered your support. I would also like to thank the following individuals, business/ Institutes for their support - The Gleaner Company, Blue Print Publicity, Pear Tree Press, Tru Luv Music, Nanook Enterprises Ltd, Bustamante High School, Green Park High School, Ted Emmanuel. Gigi James, Junior Cat, The Snyder family (Gareth), Dr. Brown and Island Fuse Entertainment.

I first met the Derriel family in March. They were traveling from town to town with their sick daughter collecting money on the streets. My heart went out to them and I took their details. Having spoken with artists in the Clarendon parish, we decided to launch a school tour, the "Save A Life Tour". Tru Luv Music was very supportive. Through correspondence with the family I learnt that Tamara's situation became more desperate. I went to St. Mary to see for myself. Someone was suppose to accompany me but let me down at the last minute. So I went alone.

The Derriel family lived in a remote area of St. Mary. They have little education which posses many challenges for them. They have at least four children. The oldest of which is 19 years old. When I went to see them on the 14th April, I learnt exactly how serious their situation was. Tamara was in great pain. They ran out of medicine and had a prescription they could not fulfil because they had no money. I felt helpless as I had little finances at that time to help. The next day I met with various publicists to see if we could alert the media. I wrote an article that weekend and by Monday morning it was published in the Star, thanks to Kavelle Christie and David Dunkly. Calls came in immediately and although Mr. Derriel's regional bank account was not sufficient to support national and international donations, persons contributed through money transfer agencies and even went to their home. You should be able to view the video interview I did with Mr. Derriel below. If not you can access it at the following link. - http://www.youtube.com/user/iFUSEmag?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/okybCTRVj64

Today is Tamara's funeral service, which was held at a Rock Spring Church of God Seven Day, close to their home. I got there early. Mr. Derriel seemed very distressed. He could not believe this day had arrived. Tarama's mother and sister did not make an appearance until the actual ceremony started. The older brother stayed at home to take care of food preparations and assisting guests. The service was presided over by Pastor Everald Williams and Pastor Ian Grant. LP Martin Funeral Home took care of the expenses. Wreaths were donated by well-wishers.

I opened the casket and saw Tamara's lifeless body. Last time I came to their home she was alive. Now I was seeing a totally different reality. This did not resemble the beautiful little girl I met over a month ago. She was wearing a beautiful dress donated by Gigi James and Junior Cat.

The church was small and the funeral very intimate. Her school teacher, Cynthia Bailey, made a speech and could hardly contain her sorrow. She spoke of the amazing student she once taught. How kind and considerate Tamara was. How her fellow students loved her. Tamara's older sister struggled through illiteracy to read a scripture. She was assisted by a friend. Tributes were also made by those present and absent such as Dr. Brown and Mrs Campbell.

Just about two weeks now since Tamara passed away. The funeral was scheduled for this weekend. But due to Mother's Day it has now been moved to the 15th May.

Person's, though aware that Tamara is no longer with us, are still helping to support the family. We will share pictures of Tamara's send off next week.

Today I met Junior Cat in town. He brought a dress he and Gigi James brought from the US for Tamara's burial. I peeked inside and saw the beautiful colours (white and light peach) but I did not have the strength to take it out of the bag. I was suppose to meet Mr. Derriel that day also but he could not make it.

This morning I received a phone call from Mr. Derriel at 8:54am. There was loud crying...the news could not be good. He said "Tamara gone Karla, she gone, tell Dr. Brown". Then he hung up. I just felt numb.

I called Dr. Brown moments after and then Gigi from the US who has also been helping out. It took me two hours to reach out to anyone else. I then informed the Gleaner so that they could alert the public by tomorrow.... We really don't think enough had been done for this child since she was diagnosed with cancer. If the family had money. I think it would have been a very different story.

This morning I was still getting calls from people wishing to donate. I had to tell them the sad news.

May God rest Tamara's beautiful soul.

Today I went with Mr. Derriel to the hospital. I got first hand advice that there was not much they could do in Jamaica for Tamara's case....... Later in the evening I spoke with Dr. Brown in the US. She has been speaking with Mr. Derriel since Wednesday about linking experts in the US. Since then she has been devoting a considerable amount of time reaching out to experts and key figures on behalf of Tamara. Dr. Brown has been communicating with top specialists in this area of cancer research as to whether or not they can do something about Tamara's case. She has also managed to get things moving in terms of alerting political figures in Jamaica to get paperwork going for passport applications, etc, etc. Should there be a possibility that experts in the US can operate on Tamara we expect everything to be in place for them to fly out by next week.......... We will keep you posted on the situation as it unfolds. Should Tamara be eligible for operation in the US the Derriel family will still require your continued support in terms of finances and prayer.

I called Mr. Thomas early this morning. They had good news...they have already begun to see improvements in Tamara, having begun the nutrition programme. According to Mr. Derriel, the swelling in her legs started to decrease and she woke up early asking for food.

Today the Derriel family had an appointment with a health specialist who has a high success rate in helping patients to recover from cancer. They used some funds raised to higher a vehicle to drive them from St. Mary to Kingston. Their appointment was for 10am.

When I met Mr. Derriel that morning, he was not only distressed about his daughter but he informed me that persons were walking around town with pictures of Tamara and the newspaper article, collecting money that was not going towards her cause. That night I made an announcement to the public about this illegal activity on Ted Emmanuel's radio show.

Tamara looked especially weak today. Her legs were also swollen. She could hardly walk. The health specialist (Ted Emmanuel), seeing the age of the child and the lack of financial aid, did not charge for his services. Ted Emmanuel realized that the parents had been feeding Tamara dangerous food, that was in fact speeding up her deterioration. The were literally giving Tamara anything she asked for that they could afford. Like fried chicken, french fries, etc. These things were feeding the cancer, instead of the child. He recommended a health programme which involved strict dietary requirements. The food are quite costly but with the support of donors the Derriel family were able to start right away.

This morning Pear Tree Press kindly sponsored the printing of letters to various businesses. Each letter also included a color photograph of Tamara and her father, as highlighted in the newspaper article issued yesterday. I distributed some of the letters to companies in the New Kingston area. The rest I sent by mail the following day.

Today we had our second stop on our school tour, "Save A Life" tour. We took over devotion at Green Park High School, Clarendon. They were very sympathetic about our cause. We did not raise much, but principle Ankle informed us that he would keep collecting in our absence. Straight after the tour I went to Kingston. I had several business meetings, but in between I wrote letters to various businesses in corporate Jamaica. Did not get the chance to print them. I also got a call from Ted Emmanuel's office, alerting me that there was an opening for the Derriel family to get an appointment this week, Wednesday. I decided to stay overnight in Kingston so I could get an early start in the morning and cover more grounds with the letters.