Firefighters from all over South Florida joined dozens of staff from Holtz Children’s Hospital to say goodbye to Abigail Alcenat. She had been a patient in the burn unit since January. Sitting in a wheelchair, Abi’s father wheeled her through the crowd of well-wishers to a waiting van.
They cheered, not for a hero; they applauded for resilience, for courage, for an 11-year-old girl who was badly burned on more than 58% of her body.
“I would say today is the greatest day for me,” said Edjohns Alcenat, Abi’s father. “That make me so happy, especially for this hospital and the people we meet, that make me so grateful.”
“Today is a very emotional day; it’s actually a little more emotional than I thought it would’ve been, to be working with her for the past seven months has been an incredible journey,” said Dr. Shevonne Satahoo, one of the Jackson Memorial Hospital physicians on the team that cared for Abi.
The girl’s survival was not assured. Dr. Satahoo says it was touch-and-go for a time.
“It definitely is a testament to the amazing team that we have here at the Miami Burn Center. It’s been hard on all of us, I would say emotionally and physically,” Dr. Satahoo said.
The car crash happened on Jan. 4 in West Palm Beach. Abi was trapped in the back seat of a car driven by her brother, Jonathan Alcenat.
“When I saw the car, I don’t know how any of us made it out alive,” her brother said, explaining that he woke up in a hospital four days later.
He said he doesn’t remember the accident at all. Now he’s just happy to see his sister go home.
“It’s very emotional, it’s a very emotional day for all of us,” he said.
Among the crowd Thursday was Christopher Sheehan, the Palm Beach County firefighter who pulled Abi out of the inferno.
“The strength it takes to be in that situation and handle it the way she has is incredible, every time I see her, every time I get to talk to her she’s happy, she’s smiling, it’s a type of like, beauty and strength that is just a blessing from God, it’s so great to see her get to this point,” Sheehan said.
There’s a GoFundMe to help Abigail’s family with all the bills. It’s called “All in for Abi.” She still faces more surgeries and years of therapy, so she will still be coming back to Holtz Children’s Hospital on a regular basis, to the hospital where everyone is in her corner.