A positive attitude sparked a friendship between Sunrise firefighter Luke Trombley and resident Bobby Young. Now, Young, born with cerebral palsy and lupus, is hoping to pay that forward with assistance for his cousin and primary caretaker.
Trombley and Young have bonded over the past two years, after Trombley was part of a response team to Young’s address.
“I had a little free time, and I looked around the corner in another room, and I saw Bobby over there in his wheelchair, and I went over and talked to him, and he was in a great mood for someone who was in that situation,” Trombley said. “We had to leave and go on another call, and I didn’t get to finish the conversation with him. So, that night, I was thinking about it, how I would like to talk to him more. So, after I got off shift, I went and drove over to his house and knocked on the door, and we’ve been good friends ever since.”
Trombley was emotional as he spoke about Young’s unparalleled positivity, and how they have bonded over their shared faith, now regularly visiting and speaking on the phone with one another.
“What was more intriguing for me was the idea that it’s not just doing something on a call for service that he’s required to do, but the fact that, when he started this on his days off and continued his efforts, I think I was even more surprised to find that,” Sunrise Fire Chief John McNamara said. “We’re brothers and sisters taking care of other brothers and sisters.”
Young echoed that sentiment.
“He’s my brother,” Young told NBC6. “He’s the best brother that I ever had.”
Young was living with his mother in Gainesville until she died in 1999. After that, he went to live with his cousin in Broward County, who then passed away in 2005. Young has since lived with his cousin, Tammy Peeples, and her husband.
“I have been trying to get help to get a van so that my cousin doesn’t have to pick me up to get into her van, so that I can go to church and my doctor’s appointments,” Young wrote in a post on a GoFundMe to cover the cost of equipment needed to make traveling more accessible. “It is getting difficult for them to lift me in and out of the van. So, I am reaching out for help to get a van that will accommodate them.”
Although an accessible van would be greatly appreciated, Peeples said she would be happy just to have lift equipment to help get Young in and out of the car.
“When my mom got down, I’m now down to, maybe 12 to 15 hours [of work] a week, and it’s a struggle financially. But I do what I have to do,” she said. “I have to, because he can go on transportation to the doctor. But still, sometimes, they can’t understand what he’s saying, and by me being his caretaker on the 24/7, I have to know exactly what’s going on with him.”
Peeples said that Young enjoys traveling, and she wants to provide an opportunity for him to be able to live his life to the fullest. But, currently, she has to pick him up in order to put him in the passenger seat of her vehicle, and then fold up and load his wheelchair in the trunk. Sunrise firefighters who helped her after speaking with NBC6 on Monday were shocked to see how she lifted her cousin into the van.
“She has some health limitations of her own, and I just couldn’t believe it,” Trombley said. “I didn’t understand that that’s how she was struggling. So, I was looking forward to see if I could do anything to help them out.”
Peeples said that lift equipment for the type of wheelchair Young uses could cost more than $30,000.
“It means a lot to me because Bobby has been through a lot,” she said. “He functions just like we function. He just can’t speak the way we speak, and he can’t walk or write, but he does with his feet.”
Click here to access the GoFundMe.