ABC13 viewers come to aid of struggling paraplegic
HOUSTON
After the story aired last Friday, we immediately got phone calls, emails and Facebook comments from people -- total strangers -- asking how they could help. We connected those folks with Williams, and they came through for him.
In that week since we last saw Williams, he went from desperate to delighted.
"If I committed a crime and I went to prison, they would take care of me," he told us a week ago.
Now...
"Total change, yes ma'am," he told us.
He has gotten dozens of phone calls, some letters with checks enclosed and even boxes of supplies.
"When I drove up, there were boxes all the way to the top, on top of this table, on the ground, everywhere," said Michael's wife, Tiffani Williams.
All were in response to a very basic request -- catheters.
We first met Williams last October, a few months after he had been paralyzed in a crash. Since then, he's lost his health insurance. He's not eligible for Medicare until next year and he can't even afford to buy new catheters, so as of last week, he had been reusing old ones.
And we were there when that ended for good.
"About 180 of these, so a good first month's supply of these," said Daniel Attal with Complete Care Medical.
With help from Cure Medical, Complete Care Medical -- a medical supply company -- has committed to providing Michael with catheters for as long as he needs it. The president and a patient representative delivered them in person.
"It's something no one should have to go without, especially in a condition like this," Attal said.
Adding to the boxes of catheters the widow of a quadriplegic sent. It has been positively overwhelming.
"I honestly didn't think people would step up and do as much as they did," Tiffani said.
And it's much appreciated.
"It means the world to me that I can actually have something to function in life," Michael said.
Just that box of supplies alone from Complete Care Medical costs about $400. If Michael never walks again, he'll need catheters for the rest of his life so they want to assure people they will not go to waste.
