It's been almost three months since 13-year-old Shanoya Davis died from rheumatic fever, yet her body is still at the morgue - unburied.

This is not for a lack of family or loved ones, however, this case is simple - Shanoya's family cannot afford to bury her.

The teenager's distraught and visibly distressed mother, Monica Morgan, told THE STAR her daughter, the youngest girl of her nine children, has yet to receive her final farewell, because the family is having tremendous difficulties footing the related expenses.

She told THE STAR, "I am a single mother. I bring di money to di parlour, jus' how I get it." She said friends and relatives have helped her by contributing $2000 or $3000 here and there and so far she has paid off the funeral cost of $100,000. The problem, however, is the storage fee.

The undertaker, she said, was very sympathetic towards her, but said she had to pay the storage fee before her daughter could be buried, as the area used for storage does not belong to him. This fee is $66,000. "I don't know where else to turn," said Morgan. "So I just came to seek some assistance. Where the body is stored, the undertaker is being pressured. Right now, I'm diabetic and my little son have sickle cell and none a wi nuh go clinic from dis happen. I jus' cyaan get di space to do it."

two weeks in hospital

Morgan said her daughter had spent two months and two weeks in hospital before passing away and explained that the condition had caused problems with two of the valves in her heart. She said since her daughter's death, she has lost the motivation to do her usual activities, therefore losing out on possible income. "I used to go country and get ackee and so and sell, but I just don't have di strength. I can't even sleep at nights," she said.

Through tears, she said her daughter was quite conscious in the moments before she passed away and even tried to hug her, though her arms were too weak to manage. She told THE STAR that of all her children, Shanoya, "a di only one fi siddung an seh mummy mi love yu." She said they were extremely close because "she is a slow learner, so she always waan deh near mi an so."

She said the undertaker has urged her to try to get her daughter buried by Sunday and she would love to see this happen. "I'm appealing for some help to finish burying my 13-year-old daughter," she said, " anything that anyone can give me."