As some of you may or may not know on February 24th, 7 PGFD Firefighters were injured while operating at a house fire In Riverdale, Maryland that has since been declared arson. Of those 7 injured, 2 were admitted to the Burn Unit at Washington Hospital Center with serious burns, Bladensburg Co.9 FF's Ethan Sorrell had respiratory burns and has since been released and FF Kevin O'Toole who is still currently recovering in the Hospital with burns over 40% of his body. I personally know both of these guys and was at the fire the night they were both injured and can honestly say they are two of the strongest people i know. Kevin has had multiple skin graph operations and has made great strides in the past few weeks enough so to be admitted in the step down unit from the ICU. With being said Kevin still has a long road to recovery.
So here is what he needs Kevin (A Native of New York, from Bethpage, Long Island) as you can imagine spends alot of time in his hospital room. Although his family and at least two firefighters from either Company 9 or Company 1 have been at his side 24 hours a day he would like to make his room feel a little more like home. So he is asking that any of those following his recovery could send him a company or department patch to liven up the room a little bit.
Any departments wising to send a patch and or a card to Kevin they are to be sent to 4213 Edmonston Road, Bladensburg MD 20710 and they will be sure to find a place on his wall.
I will be home this week for a few days if you would like to PM me i may be available to pick up the patch if that makes things easier before i head back to Maryland.
Here are a few of the news articles incase you have no idea what im talking about to bring you up to speed.
http://statter911.co...fe-threatening/
http://statter911.co...s-kevin-otoole/
http://pgfdpio.blogs...vin-otoole.html
Again Thank you guys for your support and we hope to see a few patches on the wall to show Kev some love from New York.
Thank You,
Matt Lauria
FF/EMT-YHFD
Live-In FF/EMT- Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department Co. 1
