The mother of the late Michael Hubbard donated $5,000 on Thursday to the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps. The first responders rushed her son to the hospital when he was severely burned by a highly flammable gel candle in 2011.
Hubbard died at 22 on June, 21 2019 after he succumbed to long term debilitating brain injuries that left him unable to speak or walk and caused him to have seizures. RVAC responded to the home where Hubbard’s injury occurred on May 28, 2011 and drove him to Stony Brook University Hospital’s burn unit after a helicopter was unable to land and transport him by air.
“On that day, I just felt overwhelmed… they went above and beyond to care for and love a young boy,” Hubbard’s mother Nancy Reyer said in an interview Monday. “I didn’t know how to thank them enough, knowing that my son was in the greatest hands of Earth angels watching over him.”
RVAC received a handwritten letter from Reyer with a check. James Alfano, RVAC’s assistant chief, said the donation was a surprise. The money will be put into the organization’s donation fund to use for anything RVAC needs for its day-to-day operations.
“She sent it to us with a nice note about his memory,” Alfano said. “It definitely was a humbling feeling to be able to accept that.”
In the letter, Reyer thanked RVAC for their dedication to the Riverhead community, and for all they did for her and her son.
“I hope you’re all smiling, because life is too short not to. Stay positive and live the best you can, when all else fails, think of Michael and smile,” the note reads.
Hubbard was treated for his injuries at Stony Brook and was transferred four months later to Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Westchester for rehabilitation therapy for his brain injuries. RVAC made sure they were the ambulance crew to give him the ride up.
Reyer said members of RVAC made sure to check on Hubbard when he was at Blythedale and when he returned to Riverhead to be cared for at Peconic Bay Medical Center’s skilled nursing facility.
“When we got back to Peconic Bay, they still came around and checked on him and it was just beautiful,” Reyer said. “Certain birthdays of Michael’s I had honoring the ambulance crew and stuff like that. So they came to celebrate Michael’s birthday, but also to celebrate them.”
Joseph Oliver, a RVAC paramedic who was Hubbard’s caregiver the day he was burned and prayed with him as he spoke his last words, said Reyer’s gift and letter was heartfelt and brought tears to the eyes of the first responders.
“It feels like the crew and RVAC in general kind of became part of the family,” Oliver said. “We’ve seen this the boy at birthdays and pictures on Facebook and we’ve always went to go visit.”
More than two years after Hubbard’s death, Reyer said she is beginning to adjust to living her life without him. She said that giving back to the Riverhead community and the people who supported her son is the way that she wants to honor him.
“It’s amazing things you take for granted, like an ambulance crew,” Reyer said. “I just wanted to let them know that I appreciate all that they do.”
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