Mom Devastated from Fire - Son in ICU Burn Center

On September 19th, my dear friend, Tammy, lost almost everything in a fire, including her son. I’ve known her for at least 10 years, and she is a very kind, humble, and loving person who refuses to ever ask for help. She has grown up and raised both of her sons and a daughter in Fallbrook. I can see in her eyes that this last event has knocked her down to the point of defeat. I would like to show her that the community cares more than she knows.

It all started when she broke her leg (tibia) and destroyed her knee during a fall at work. Her work place refused to take responsibility for the accident and has since permanently let her go. Her leg did not heal properly after the surgery, so she has had at least one more knee surgery since then that I know of. She has not been able to return to work. She is collecting a social security check well under $1,000 a month to live on.

Her son Brian, who was severely burned in the fire and is currently fighting for his life, has been living with her and working as many hours as possible to make ends meet for her. She is also epileptic and having him there made her feel safer in case of emergencies. Her other son, Michael, has recently made it off of life support due to complications with his lungs and is now back home with his wife, Pam. Michael is now on oxygen for the rest of his life at the age of 37.

Michael, Tammy's son a few months ago before being able to go home on an oxygen tank.

Brian is fighting for his life on life support. His burns are so severe that the doctors say that, if he makes it, he will be there for at least 4 months before he can be moved to a rehab facility where he will have to learn how to walk, talk, eat, just function in general, again. Each surgery for Brian’s skin is approximately 5 hours just to do a very small portion. Brian’s whole body was burned. Face, head, back, arms, legs, chest, everything. The doctor said that every layer of skin was burned down to his muscle. You can imagine the devastation for his mom.

Brian's current condition. Life support and bandaged.

She is in a position that, even if she can eventually move back into her apartment, (which her landlord told her was going to take a very long time) she will not be able to pay her bills alone on her social security. Not to mention, they will want her to pay her monthly rent until the residence is in livable condition. This, to her, is the least of her worries. She is struggling with the fear and condition of her son. She has been separated from her dog for the time being until she can get back into a residence where she can bring him. And anyone who knows how much she loves her dog knows that he may be the only comfort for her right now.

Tammy'e best friend, Jeffery

So as a re-cap, she is technically disabled with a less than poverty income, separated from her dog, her son is on life support with burns so bad it will take months to recover, and lost her residence and almost everything in it from the fire, smoke damage, and water damage. She had no renter’s insurance. It has been one thing after another for her. One person can only take so much.

I would like to relieve some of her stress on a residence and bills for the next months to come. Without Brian helping her, she cannot afford to make it on her own. Red Cross is involved, but they can only do so much in her situation. She has been on the waiting list for HUD for about 10 years, and when she checks on it, they tell her it still isn’t her turn. The brave firemen that showed up to put the fire out were angry and more than disgusted with the fact that the apartment building did not have a fire hydrant nearby, and the building itself was nowhere near code. She was already living in horrible conditions, but it was home to her and Brian.

Please help me to support her on, what she feels, is an impossible journey.

Tammy, Brian, and Ben (grandson)