By SASHA HARRINANAN Monday, March 11 2013

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MARCH TO HOSPITAL: Sea Lots residents arrive at Port-of-Spain General Hospital yesterday after leaving their homes in a solidarity march and to also v...

SEA LOTS residents embarked on a solidarity walk from Pioneer Drive to Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH) yesterday afternoon, where they visited with family members of the two people who remain warded following the February 24 accident along the Beetham Highway which claimed the lives of a woman and her two children.

Once there, the group of about 30 men, women and children received some good news - Ryan Rampersad had been transferred at midday from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to the hospital’s High Dependency Unit (HDU).

Fellow accident survivor, Amanda Lalla, was transferred from ICU to HDU last week Sunday, March 3 while the least injured of the three survivors, Abigail Assing, who had been receiving treatment on Ward 22, was actually released last Tuesday, March 5.

Speaking with Newsday yesterday evening, Rampersad’s mother, Pearl Jones, praised God for her neighbours’ decision to undertake a second march from Sea Lots, to the Charlotte Street entrance of PoSGH.

The first march occurred last week Sunday and involved about 20 more people but whether the group was 30-strong or 50-strong, Jones said “it was good to see them at the hospital.”

“I’m grateful to them for their continued support because without them, I might have been feeling more ‘down’. But I continue to pray that God will heal my son.”

Jones also said “the doctors told me Ryan has some form of brain damage but they’re not sure exactly what areas of his brain have been affected. I’m hopeful though because even though he hasn’t regained full consciousness yet, Ryan is moving his hands and feet, and breathing mostly on his own now.”

Meanwhile, Devika Lalla told Newsday her mother, Amanda, is now able to communicate with her family and doctors. “Mommy started whispering two days ago. Whispering, not talking, but at least we can talk to her now.

The doctors might have to operate on her again, they said they were waiting on the swelling in her brain to go down further but I have a meeting with them in the morning, so I’m not sure what’s next,” Lalla said yesterday afternoon.

Prior to the Sea Lots residents’ march, Newsday caught up with one of Abigail Assing’s sisters who preferred that her first name not be used, said “Abigail is staying with her mom until she is fully recovered.”

“She can move around ok but she needs help standing up, getting out of bed and getting in and out of the bathroom. Luckily, there are five of us there, all adults, to help her get around,” Assing said.

Another sibling, Ashera Assing, confirmed to Newsday the family had indeed consulted a lawyer about possible legal action concerning the February 24, 2013 accident in which a car driven by a 25-year-old off-duty police officer slammed into six people, including Haydee Paul and her two young daughters, as they walked along the sidewalk toward Pioneer Drive, Sea Lots. Paul and her daughters died on the scene.