As a Seaside mom dies from injuries suffered in a fire, a family friend scrambles to fund her funeral.

The Facebook post from July 14 says it all: “We just got a call from the hospital that Michele Collins is not going to make it. We are on our way to say our final goodbyes. Please pray for strength for Jermaine through this.”

Collins, a 35-year-old mother of three, was severely injured along with her 3-year-old daughter, Kajah, in an April 10 fire at the family’s Seaside apartment. Neighbors say Collins could have escaped the blaze by climbing from a second-floor window at the Del Monte Manor complex, but she refused to leave the building because she couldn’t locate her little girl.

After three months in the Regional Burn Center at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, Collins died of complications from her injuries July 14.

Kajah, who was burned over more than 50 percent of her body, was pulled from the apartment by a neighbor. The toddler remains hospitalized but is recovering and will live with her paternal grandmother in the Fresno area once she is released, according to family friend Laurie Albanese.

Collins’ son Jermaine Brown, who was in class at Seaside High School when the fire broke out, turned 18 on July 2, according to the Facebook page started by Albanese, who is caring for the teenager.

As the grim reality of Collins’ death set in, Albanese scrambled to find the money to retrieve the body from the Santa Clara County Coroners Office and arrange a cremation. Relief came July 16, when a representative of the San Jose Firefighters Burn Foundation called Albanese to say they were donating $1,500.

It’s enough money to cover the coroner’s fees and to pay for the cremation.

“I was so worried. We had eight days to come up with the money before [the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office] turned her body over to Indigent Services,” Albanese says. “It was such a generous donation.”

But the family’s struggles are far from over. Seaside Fire Department Batallion Chief Troy Leist says the cause of the fire remains undetermined, but he acknowledged a rumor – it started even as firefighters were putting out the flames – that methamphetamine played a role.

Leist says an insurance investigation is still ongoing but there is no evidence behind that rumor. Albanese, though, believes it has hampered her fundraising efforts to help Collins’ children.

Albanese established the Collins, Colton, Brown Fund to assure the children’s welfare. Donations can be made via bank transfers, PayPal, dropoff or mail. So far, excluding the Burn Foundation’s donation, the fund has received just over $130, with family and friends donating an additional $600 to help buy clothes and other necessities for Brown.

“Everything they had was lost in the fire,” Albanese says.

The necessity with perhaps the most emotional value were Brown’s basketball shoes.

“All my life I have always wanted to go to college and fulfill my ultimate dream, playing basketball in the NBA,” the teen wrote on a blog he created for a class project, jermainechildabuse.weebly.com.

Jason Hieb, who has coached Brown for four years at Seaside High, says tragedy hasn’t dampened the teen’s spirit.

“[Jermaine] has dedicated his mind to playing basketball,” Hieb says. “To see him go through what he has to go through with a smile on his face, it inspires other kids. I’m proud of that young man.”

A Celebration of Life Ceremony happens Aug. 28. See www.facebook.com/CollinsColtonBrownFund.