Riverhead vols drive Michael Hubbard to new hospital

They had planned to drive Michael Hubbard home to Riverhead, but when doctors decided Michael needed rehabilitation therapy in a specialized environment, the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance crew that rushed the critically injured boy to Stony Brook University Medical Center May 28 wouldn’t let anyone else transport him to a rehab facility in Westchester County this week.

Crew members Kim Pokorny, Joe Oliver, John Mazzucca, and Peter Kane — who helped save the youth’s life when a gel fuel candle exploded in his face in a backyard mishap — were ready to transport Michael today or tomorrow. But on Monday Stony Brook informed Michael’s mother, Nancy Reyer, that her son would have to be moved on Tuesday.

“She was beside herself,” said her sister, Fran Reyer-Johnson.

The Riverhead vols scrambled to get all the necessary approvals to make the earlier trip.

“They made it happen,” Reyer-Johnson said. They all left their jobs early so they could be there for him, she said.

Michael did well on the trip to Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, according to his cousin, Carmen Reyer.

“The EMTs said he didn’t like the bumpy road, but other than that, it was a good trip,” she said.  “Michael and his mother settled in just fine in their new room,” Reyer said. They will be meeting with all the new doctors today, she said.

Michael, who suffered third-degree burns over 40 percent of his body and spent much of the past four months in the pediatric intensive care unit at Stony Brook, had serious complications from his burn injuries. Among them was cardiac arrest about a week after the accident. He died and was brought back by medical intervention, but his brain was without blood and oxygen for 13 minutes. He suffered traumatic brain injury as a result.

Blythedale is a leader in the rehabilitation of children recovering from brain injuries, Michael’s mother Nancy said last week. She and her family did a lot of research into possible rehab programs for Michael, she said.

“I’m very anxious to get Michael into a program where he will get the intensive rehab therapy he needs to progress,” she said.

“We are so grateful to the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps for all they’ve done for my son,” Reyer said.

After treating Michael at the scene of the accident in his aunt’s backyard, where he was helping set up for a family party planned for the following day,  EMTs first called for a helicopter to transport the boy to Stony Brook. They brought him to two different landing zone locations, but the county medical helicopter couldn’t land due to dense fog, so the Riverhead vols rushed him to Stony Brook by ambulance.

“The crew said from the beginning they planned to drive him home,” Reyer said.  “The trip to Valhalla is a necessary detour,” she said.

Reyer, who has not returned to her Riverhead home since the accident, said she plans to stay in on-site parent housing at Blythedale.

Photo caption: Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance crew members, from left, Peter Kane, Joe Oliver, Kim Pokorny, and John Mazzucca with Michael Hubbard in his new room at Blythedale Children’s Hospital yesterday. For the trip yesterday, Michael, who turned 15 on Aug. 16, sported a new Blue Waves Class of 2014 T-shirt given to him by friends.  Photo courtesy of Nancy Reyer.