Hyacinth Gayle-Smith was vacationing in Kingston, Jamaica since the middle of June, 2007. She and her husband, Noel Smith were visiting his cousin. While there she started feeling lethargic on Tuesday, June 26th. She had also started sweating profusely, which at first didn’t seem out of the ordinary because of the hot weather conditions. On Thursday June 28th she fainted in the bathroom.

She was rushed to an urgent care medical facility where she was administered an EKG. The attending physician ruled out a stroke or heart attack. She was transferred by ambulance to University Hospital of the West Indies. At the hospital they once again ruled out a stroke or heart attack. They decided to keep her for observation since she continued to complain of dizziness. They could not explain why she fainted. Hyacinth was already on Plavix and they decided to administer Heparin another blood thinner on Friday June 29.

On Saturday June 30th, when Noel returned for the evening visiting hours, he noticed that she was sweating profusely, her IV was dislodged, and her appearance had deteriorated since his afternoon visit. She started to slip very quickly. He requested the nursing staff to call for a Doctor. Unfortunately with out the modern medical conveniences by the time the Doctor arrived and did a MRI it was too late. She had no brain activity and died of a Bilateral Subdural Hemorrhage (excessive bleeding in the brain). She died Sunday July 1, 2007 at 1:10am.

The last weeks of her life she was true to her continuous youthful spirit. She enjoyed eating as much lobster, mangos and other native fruits and vegetable she enjoyed in her youth. She danced to Soca, she rode a horse at the beach for the first time and played in the beautiful waters of Jamaica, which she loved. She enjoyed seeing the east coast of the island, which she had never done before. During her last days she lived life to the fullest.