CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Michigan (March 18, 2016) — When the call comes, firefighters like Ryan McCuen always rush in, never quite sure what they’ll encounter.
On February 11, McCuen walked into this: a mother at wit’s end, a bedridden 18-year-old on a ventilator, his emergency battery power soon running out, and electricity to the home cut off by the local power company.
“I just happened to be put in that spot to do what I was supposed to do,” said 35-year-old McCuen. “I was just doing what you’re supposed to do.”
‘They needed their bill paid’
It started as a routine call in Michigan for Clinton Township’s Engine 5, a “nonemergency medical” as firefighters call it.
What they found in the living room of this suburban Detroit double-wide mobile home was Troy Stone, who suffers Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a particularly debilitating variation of the muscle-wasting disease. Stone, who has limited movement of his limbs and is no longer able to breathe on his own, had a tracheotomy last December. His family has struggled financially, and they had fallen behind on payments to the local utility.
Christy Stone, Troy’s mother, said their electric bill has gone up threefold since Troy had the breathing tube inserted. It now takes seven machines, all running on electricity, to keep him alive.
Despite having a letter from their doctor’s office informing DTE Energy that “there must be electrical power in the home to maintain … life support equipment,” the power was still cut off.
http://fox59.com/2016/03/18/michigan-firefighter-pays-electric-bill-to-keep-teen-on-ventilator/
Christy Stone was astonished at the matter-of-factness of this firefighter she didn’t even know.
“Ryan was standing there and he looks at me and goes, ‘I’m going to pay your electric bill,’ and I was just like — are you serious!?”
He was, and he did.
Snapping a picture of her bill, McCuen paid it, all $1,023.76 of it.
A struggle to make ends meet
Stone and her husband, Guy, had been struggling for years to make ends meet. Together they have five children, and two of them suffer from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare genetic condition affecting mostly males.
Stone watched her brother die from the disease and her son, who was otherwise healthy until he was around 8 years old, is now in steady decline; the muscles throughout his body, genetically robbed of a crucial protein, slowly ebbing away. Stone’s 15-year-old son Tyler, now using a wheelchair, suffers the same condition.
Guy Stone, who works in shipping and receiving, was out of work for a year-and-a-half. He’s been back at work for a year but with five kids, two with extreme health issues, catching up has not been easy.
In January, his pay was garnished because a car was repossessed when he was unemployed. That started a slide into further financial instability, the family sinking a little further into debt every month. They’ve had help along the way from friends and family, a local church and other organizations helping with everything from house and trailer-lot payments to food.
http://fox59.com/2016/03/18/michigan-firefighter-pays-electric-bill-to-keep-teen-on-ventilator/
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