Sympathy still strong for teen set on fire
MIAMI (AP) – Burn victim Michael Brewer lives in a limited world, one of bandages and painkillers.
But beyond the walls of the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Burn Center, he is a celebrated cause.
More than a month after the Deerfield Beach teenager was attacked, the fundraisers continue, the cards still arrive and people around the globe include him in their prayers.
“My heart was just so moved, as a parent. I can’t imagine it,” said Eric Blevins, a South Carolina man who heard the 911 call for help and now follows Brewer’s progress on the Facebook page Pray for Michael Brewer.
“Something about it gets to your soul.”
The outpouring doesn’t surprise Tonia Werner, a forensic psychiatrist and assistant professor at the University of Florida. We can’t help those who die, she explained. But we can help survivors, especially those who face as long and difficult a recovery as Brewer.
“We look at children as needing protection and being more vulnerable to these types of crimes and activities,” Werner said. “Certainly, this has changed his life forever.”
The day that changed Brewer’s life forever was Oct. 12. That day, five boys from Deerfield Beach Middle School surrounded Brewer. Broward Sheriff’s deputies said that Denver Colorado Jarvis doused him in rubbing alcohol, and Jesus Mendez lit him on fire.
They did it at the command of Matthew Bent, BSO said. Bent wanted revenge, investigators said, for a squabble over $40, a video game and a bicycle.
Prosecutors charged Jarvis, Mendez and Bent as adults with second-degree attempted murder. They remain in a Broward County jail.
Brewer was burned over 65 percent of his body. He was in the intensive care unit until last week, and doctors consider his condition guarded. He is likely to spend months in the hospital recovering.
And thousands of strangers await what happens next.
Those strangers usually find their way to the Facebook group called Pray for Michael Brewer. It was created after the attack by Brewer’s cousin, Amanda Mercier.
Among the frequent visitors is Gary Liefer, a stay-at-home dad in New Mexico. He saw Valerie Brewer’s tearful interview about her son on TV and flashed back to his own teenage years in New York. He remembered being bullied and teased.
He followed the updates on Facebook, but that didn’t feel like enough. He made a video about Brewer using pictures and music. He sent a copy to the family.
Inspired, he’s made two more. He has ideas for another 10. “He reminded me so much of me,” Liefer said. “It’s like he was me out there.”
Closer to home, BSO deputy Joe Kessling began work on a raffle to raise money for the Brewers. He teamed up with Galuppi’s, a Pompano Beach restaurant, then Craig Tanner, who runs a printing company.
Each person they knew told another person, who told another person. Their raffle grew to include Miami Dolphins season tickets, helicopter rides and a weeklong cruise. Several Miami Dolphins signed autographs. Bounce houses and entertainment were donated.
“People are calling us and saying ‘Where do I send the check?'” Tanner said a few days before the event. “I think everyone wants to help.”
They raised about $50,000, organizers said. It will be added to the bevy of donations from across South Florida that already totals $130,000.
Of that amount, about $8,500 has gone to the Jackson Memorial Foundation to be applied to Brewer’s medical bills. The rest has gone to Neighbors4Neighbors, with the money directed to Brewer’s family. The money has come from groups ranging from local schoolchildren to strip clubs.
The Booby Trap, a chain of strip clubs in Miami-Dade and Broward, turned its poker run into a fundraiser for Brewer.
“Yes, we’re the Booby Trap, and some people like to associate that in certain terms, but we’re also a part of the community, and the people associated with (us) are mothers and fathers and children,” said Karen Fasenmyer, the group’s Broward marketing director.
When word reached a Boynton Beach healthcare provider, AllianceCare, the company offered to provide at-home help after Brewer leaves the hospital.
When word reached Everglades University, a private college with three Florida campuses and distance learning, it responded by offering the 15-year-old Brewer a four-year tuition scholarship.
Meanwhile, more than 3,500 people hang on every Aunt Patti update. Patricia Gendron, Brewer’s great-aunt, maintains the Pray for Michael Brewer Facebook page.
“You never know when an update is going to happen,” Sia Sotirakis, an English literature graduate student at Boston University, told The Miami Herald. “Even if he opened his eyes, that’s enough to make someone’s day.”
Gendron sends updates every day or two, occasionally sending multiple alerts in one day when she has big news, as when Brewer was moved out of intensive care. “I go on and read them all, and I just sit here bawling in the morning,” Gendron said. “There are so many people. It’s just overwhelming.”
Groups like Pray for Michael Brewer are rare on Facebook, said Cliff Lampe, an associate professor in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media at Michigan State University who has studied the social networking site for four years.
But they have happened before, especially when people are getting out news about tragedy, he said. “People like to feel like they are making a difference,” Lampe said, “and there are Facebook looks you don’t get in other media.”
Meanwhile, Brewer continues his slow recovery. He is aware of a bit of the outpouring for him but not entirely, Gendron said.
“I remember the prayers that people post,” Gendron said. “And I tell Mikey about them.”