Lara helps Joanna

Cricket legend Brian Lara yesterday held an open house sale at his home in Port of Spain with the proceeds going to assist seven-year-old Joanna Brathwaite who needs a bone marrow transplant.

Joanna Brathwaite was diagnosed with blood disorder, beta thalassemia major when she was 13 months old. Her Trinidadian-based Guyanese family set up a set up a GoFundMe page for her to receive a bone marrow transplant at The Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital in Italy at the cost of TT$1.5 million. As of yesterday, the page received £2,766 in donations out of a goal of £200,000. The deadline is December 31.

Brathwaite’s GoFundMe page said, “Joanna is an extremely intelligent, loving and talented child who enjoys dancing, doing puzzles, playing with friends and older sister Cayla. However, her condition often prevents her from fully participating in some activities as exhaustion steps in due to the lack of oxygen.”

It said she needs blood transfusions every two to four weeks and has already received just under 80. “However prolonged blood transfusion treatment can cause many health complications, leading to loss of life at a young age.”

Lara said he heard about Brathwaite’s case about three days ago and met her yesterday morning. “This young lady and her family, she’s got so much ahead of her. Sometimes you have to make that extra effort to make sure you can make an impact on someone’s life...I reached out to some friends, some vendors and it’s Independence Day. I felt it’s so appropriate to have something of this standard at my home... to Joanna Brathwaite and her family, me and my friends are going to try and see how much we can do to support this.”

The sale included furniture, home decorations, electronics, art, collector’s items including signed t-shirts and hats and sports memorabilia. There were mirrors, wall hanging and clothing from The Studio Shop on Mucurapo Road, St James, cosmetics by Cedros Bay, natural and organic body products from Crystal Bliss and even Ferreira Optical was present with the Brian Lara Collection of shades and glasses frames.

Lara said he has a lot of fans in TT and was willing to part with some of the items he cherished over the years to see someone else cherish them. He also chose to host the event at his home as a way to give back to his fans. “It’s a home that was built on the strength of the people. I’ve always felt that way over the years – that the support that the people have given me, starting with my family from a very young age... without that support I wouldn’t be the person I am today.”

One woman from Curepe said she thought opening his home to small businesses and the public was a great initiative and hoped more “people of significance” would do something similar. She said she found it to be inspirational for young people, both those who want to start businesses as well as young cricket fans, to “give them hope when things are not hopeful.”

Donations can also be made in the name of Joanna Andrea Bratwaithe at First Citizens account 2595328 in TT and at Scotiabank account 10032751 in Guyana. The GoFundMe page can be accessed at https://www.gofundme.com/f/give-to-cure-joanna.