Community Corner
Greenport Woman's Brother Loses Fight: 'Another Part of My Heart Is Gone'
Funeral services are being held Friday in Greenport.
Despite fierce fundraising efforts of a Greenport woman to bring home her brother, who was badly injured in a dirt bike accident in East Marion three years ago, Terrance Lawrence lost his battle recently.
For months, Keasha King has been trying valiantly to raise funds to bring her brother back to Greenport; a fundraiser was held as recently as last month. Sadly, monies raised will now be used to pay for his funeral services.
King last saw her brother at the Woodmere Rehabilitation & Health Care Center on Friday, August 30. "He wasn't himself," she said.
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On Saturday, King got a call that her brother had been found unresponsive; he was taken to the hospital, where he suffered cardiac arrest and died soon after.
And now, her dream of bringing him back to Greenport will never be realized, King said. "I was trying," she said, her voice breaking. "I can't even explain how I feel right now. Another part of my heart is gone."
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A wake will be held at the Horton-Mathie Funeral Home in Greenport on Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Her brother, King said, will be cremated. A repast will be held at her home on Saturday at 1 p.m., at 430 2nd Street in Greenport; all are welcome.
King said her heart was touched by the outpouring of support from friends and neighbors who tried to help bring Lawrence home.
In May, local hip hop artist Mike Check organized a fundraiser for the family, to help make the Greenport home of King, Lawrence's sister, handicapped accessible, so that he can come back to the community and family that loves him.
King said her brother was 32 on the fateful day, July 18, 2010, of his accident. He and her son, Jefferson Treadwell, whom she called Naquawn, were dirt biking in East Marion when the handle bars collided and the two men were thrown.
Her son, who was only 23 years old, died.
"It was really hard," she said. "It's still hard. I still have days when I have meltdowns."
King's brother suffered traumatic brain injury after the accident and was in a wheelchair and had memory issues.
In her grandchild, Jefferson, Jr., now three years old, King said she sees glimpses of her son. "He has so many of his ways."
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