Fight for Firefighters Foundation shows support for 9-year-old boy with epilepsy
MASSAPEQUA, Long Island (WABC) -- There was a show of support Wednesday for the child of an FDNY firefighter with special needs.
Dino Scali, 9, has a form of epilepsy and other developmental delays and needs constant help to do everyday activities, and on Wednesday, a foundation went to Scali's home in Massapequa to help make his daily life a little easier.
Dino and his 8-year-old sister Ella helped dozens of volunteer firefighters build an addition with a bathroom and ramp onto their home.
"I want to say we're lucky but it's so beyond that," said Dino's mom Jackie Scali.
All materials were donated. The volunteer group doing this is called the Fight for Firefighters Foundation.
"Everything from here back is all brand new," said Dino's dad Anthony Scali.
The 9-year-old's mom says the volunteers opened and widened doorways so that Dino's family can roll him easily into the bathroom.
"We can roll him in and out, we can give him a really nice shower and we have a changing table in the bathroom that we can dry him up," Anthony Scali said.
The ramp on the side of the house and the extension means everything. Dino Scali is so much more comfortable.
"We gave him a shower in there and he was laughing and clapping. He knows and appreciates it for sure," Jackie Scali said.
Usually, the Fight for Firefighters Foundation just makes ramps, but this time they did an addition. The history behind the foundation is just fantastic.
"We started in 2017, I was talking to some World Trade Center nurses and they had no way to get these guys that have cancer inside their house. Insurance didn't cover it," said John Vaeth of the Fight for Firefighters Foundation. "It started out as a small thing, and it grew."
There are more than 40 volunteers out there. They've built more than 200 ramps over the years.
"When you do stuff like this, you realize how many people are really good people," Vaeth said.
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