BOSTON — A man who was truly down on his luck proved that sometimes, all it takes is offering to help someone else.
On June 6, Eric was in a house fire and suffered second- and third-degree burns on 54 percent of his body–legs, back, chest and arms. He was in a coma for 27 days before waking up.
On October 5, Ryan Hamilton, of Hammy TV, posted a video that differs from the other ones on his YouTube channel. Typically a prankster, Ryan wanted to “do a social experiment to see if people are still willing to help one another.”
He took an old Mustang and used a jack, and he sat by to see if anyone would help him. It took two hours, but then someone stopped.
Eric, who is still taking a bunch of medications a day and recovering from his own accident, stopped to help Ryan out. Eric said he drove by earlier in the day but couldn’t stop because he was going to physical therapy, but that he came back to help after.
Eric tells Ryan in the video about what happened–that he fell asleep and woke up and his house was on fire. He left, but he realized he didn’t have his dog with him so he went back in, but he passed out from the smoke, which is how he got burned. Unfortunately, his dog didn’t survive the fire.
He asked why he stopped even though he was in pain.
“Everybody needs a little help here and there,” Eric said.
He said he’d need a little help, and asked Ryan to help him get his wheelchair out of his trunk because he can’t stand for too long.
After they kept talking Ryan told Eric it was all a prank, that because he was willing to help out despite his own suffering, that he’d buy him a new PlayStation and games–he lost all of his in the fire–and that he’d try and help raise money through his foundation.
Well, it helped more than the “little bit” that Ryan was hoping for.
Fox Boston said that before the video, “Eric’s Angels,” the GoFundMe page for Eric, had only raised $800 after being started on June 28. Well, in just three days that number has risen to $140,785 (as of 11 p.m. Thursday).
