THE heartbroken mum of four children who died in a petrol bomb attack is fighting for life 18 months after the blaze. Michelle Pearson’s children Demi, 15, Brandon, eight, Lacie, seven, and three-year-old Lia all died in the devastating fire as they slept in their home. She suffered burns to 75 per cent of her […]
THE heartbroken mum of four children who died in a petrol bomb attack is fighting for life 18 months after the blaze.
Michelle Pearson’s children Demi, 15, Brandon, eight, Lacie, seven, and three-year-old Lia all died in the devastating fire as they slept in their home.
She suffered burns to 75 per cent of her body and spent five months in a coma following the attack in Salford, Greater Manchester, in December 2017.
Michelle’s mum Sandra Lever tonight revealed she is in a critical condition in hospital after her health suddenly deteriorated.
Mrs Lever said: “We have been reluctant to share Michelle’s journey over the past few months as we have been focusing on getting her better.
“Also trying to keep away from the public eye to allow Michelle and the family to grieve.
“However, what people didn’t know is that in fact this has been the most challenging time for Michelle and the family.
“Michelle’s health has deteriorated in the past 10 weeks, Michelle is still in critical health and still remains in hospital until further notice.”
It comes as the woman jailed for helping the arsonists torch the family home is set to appeal her conviction, Manchester Evening News reports.
Courtney Brierley, 21, was jailed for manslaughter last year for helping her then-boyfriend Zak Bolland and pal David Worrall carry out the attack.
She was caged for 21 years while Bolland, 23, and Worrall, 26, were handed life sentences for murder.
The attack was a devastating climax to a feud involving Bolland and Kyle Pearson, Michelle eldest son, who escaped the blaze.
Brierley is serving time in a young offenders’ institution and will be able to apply for parole halfway through her sentence.
She claimed she acted because she feared her violent boyfriend Bolland.
Brierley has lodged appeals against her sentence and her conviction.
The Court of Appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice in London confirmed her appeal is listed for June 27.
This is one of the few family updates about the mum’s health since Michelle recorded a heartbreaking message from her hospital bed a year on from the blaze.
The family released the clip to be played at the vigil to mark a year since the sickening attack.
She said: “First of all, I’d like to thank all the firefighters for what they have done.
“Second, I would like to thank the community for all their generous donations. And last I would like to thank everybody for coming tonight.”
In October 2018, Mrs Lever and her other daughter Michelle appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show and shared the moment she had to tell her daughter that four of her children had died in an arson attack, after waking from a five-month coma.
She Lever said: “It either had to come from me or the nurses. It was only because she [Michelle] asked me.
“I was talking about the grandkids, the youngest one. She [Michelle] said ‘where’s my baby?’. I said ‘Lia’.
Sandra said the horrifying news wouldn’t sink in.
“We did tell her numerous times that she had passed away in the fire but she got, like, in denial.
“She just kept asking every day. Kept forgetting and forgetting.
“It lasted for about six weeks before it sunk into her.”
Michelle’s health has deteriorated in the past 10 weeks, Michelle is still in critical health and still remains in hospital until further notice
Sandra Lever, Michelle's mum
Michelle’s sister Sarah, the children’s aunt, added: “She kept saying ‘bring the kids down next time you come’ and ‘who’s looking after them?’ and ‘make sure you give Demi some money’.”
They both said Michelle had now come to terms with the devastating news, but are concerned that she might not survive.
“She can’t move from the neck down but she’s not paralysed. That’s because she was in a coma for so long – muscle wastage.
“She will have to go through rehab and learn to walk again.”
Jeremy Kyle asked them: “Would it be better if your daughter passed away?”
Mrs Lever revealed “they did think that at the beginning”.
She said: “We just wanted her to be, like, with the children because without the children, it ain’t going to be Michelle.”
Michelle was too ill to attend the funeral services for her children, even though they were arranged to be held nine months later in September 2018 in the hope that she would be well enough.
However, with her condition still fragile, Michelle was instead shown photographs of the funeral which was attended by family members, friends and hundreds of well-wishers.
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