26-year-old police constable who needed liver transplant dies

Constable Donique Anderson, the 26-year-old Jamaican policewoman who topped her training batch and who was in need of a liver transplant, has died.

She passed early Saturday at the University Hospital of the West Indies in St Andrew, where she had been for the past two weeks.

In 2017, shortly after she joined the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Anderson was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis, a rare disease that occurs when the body's immune system attacks the liver. 

Earlier this year, Anderson travelled to the United States in hopes of getting a liver transplant to save her life, but was unable to get on a transplant list due to her lack of insurance.

She later returned to Jamaica and has been in and out of hospital. 

Anderson's situation began unfolding when she was sent to the US by the Jamaica Police Federation on May 5, with the reported understanding that arrangements had been made for her to see a doctor at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. 

However, early disappointment set in as her mother, Gem Donald, said after three days in the US, it was not clear from the federation which doctor her daughter was due to see.

As Anderson's condition worsened, Donald said she reached out to Dr Rupert Francis in Florida who put her in touch with members of the Northeast Health Task Force who were able to get her daughter treated at emergency rooms at various New Jersey hospitals. 

However, she was not able to get the detailed treatment that was required for her to be on the list for liver donors.

Anderson's situation was brought to the attention of Jamaica's Consul General in New York, Alsion Wilson, who made arrangements with Harlem Hospital for her to be treated at the facility. 

Harlem Hospital arranged emergency MEDICAID Insurance and New York City insurance to cover her stay at the hospital but those did not cover the cost for the liver transplant.

In July,  Donald said her daughter was discharged from Harlem Hospital as the doctors told her that she could die at any time without the transplant.

Anderson was the only female among the 196 constables who graduated from the National Police College in January 2019. 

She achieved the highest overall score for Batch 119. 

She joined in 2017 as part of Batch 117 but was forced to delay her training because of illness. 

“My mother encouraged me. I wanted to work for the Government – to serve my community and country. I wanted to be looked upon as a role model. Being the only female, it wasn't really that hard. I just did my best," Anderson told The Gleaner at her graduation. 

She added: “My sickness pushed me forward. When I was training and felt a little pain, I would tell myself that I cannot go backward. That pushed me to work very hard to complete it. My vision is for the police to work alongside citizens and vice versa. I want the relationship between the police and citizens to be a better one. They taught us to be respectful. We are expected to treat others equally.”

- Lester Hinds

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