Lieutenant Stitchie’s church family is being asked to roll up their sleeves. The veteran deejay is at Kingston Public Hospital receiving blood after his count dropped, and his wife Sophia Laing says friends, relatives and fellow congregants have been called on to donate.
Laing spoke to Observer Online on Sunday, hoping to calm fans rattled by reports of his admission. “Stitchie’s blood count went down, and that is why he is at that medical facility, KPH, getting blood,” she said.
The family is now waiting on the rest of the transfusion. “We are waiting on him to get the balance of the blood tomorrow, and once the doctors are satisfied, he will be released,” she explained.
There’s no fixed timeline yet. “How long he will be hospitalised depends on the process and the number of units he may need, everything is now in the hands of the medical team,” Laing added.
This latest scare comes on top of a long, hard road. Stitchie suffered a debilitating stroke in the first week of September 2024 and has been cared for at an undisclosed private medical facility ever since.
By his wife’s count it has been two years, one month and 14 days since the stroke. He still cannot speak and has limited mobility.
Even so, Laing is leaning on gratitude rather than despair. “He is not able to move around much, but the greatest thing is that he is still with us,” she said. “
So many persons who took ill after my husband are not with us. But to God be the glory, he is still in the land of the living.”
The money side is a quieter strain. His GoFundMe page is still active and has helped with the cost of his prolonged care, but Laing admits donations come in fits and starts. “It is still a bit of a struggle, but every now and then, people will donate so to God be the glory,” she said.
For longtime dancehall heads, the name carries real weight. Born Cleve Laing, Stitchie was an athlete and schoolteacher before he came up through the fierce sound system scene in his hometown of Spanish Town in the early 1980s, trading lyrics alongside Papa San, Wickerman and Major Worries.
His breakthrough arrived in 1986 with the comic Wear Yuh Size, and the laughs kept coming with Natty Dread. By 1988 he had signed to Atlantic Records, releasing three albums for the label, including the well received Wild Jamaican Romances.
Then came a sharp turn. In 1997 he became a born again Christian and has recorded a string of inspirational albums and songs since, with many fans now knowing him as the Fast and Pray deejay.
Right now, though, all eyes are on tomorrow’s transfusion. The family is still asking for donors, and the next update depends on what the doctors say once the last units are in.
