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Update: Gel candle victim’s surgery goes as planned

By Vera Chinese

Update: Michael’s Hubbard surgery went as planned, his mother Nancy Reyer wrote on his recovery blog today

“We now can breath a little and will let you know what comes next,” she wrote.

See original story below

The 14-year-old Riverhead boy who suffered severe burns after a gel candle incident in May will be undergoing surgery today, according to his recovery blog at Caringbridge.org.

Michael Hubbard, who has been at Stony Brook University Medical Center since the May 28 incident and is still in a coma, will have an external ventricular drainage valve inserted in his skull, his mother Nancy Reyer wrote on the blog today. Doctors are hoping the surgery will elicit a response from the boy. He will be moved to the Intensive Care Unit following the surgery, Ms. Reyer wrote.

Ms. Reyer, who has been on unpaid leave from her job as she stays by her son’s side, asked for prayer for Michael.

“OK, you know what your job is,” she wrote. “Please Lord, let this be the seventh miracle.”

The family is still seeking donations to help with their expenses. Those who wish to send a donation can makes checks payable to:

Michael Hubbard Fund
Suffolk Federal Credit Union:
Route 24
Flanders, NY 11901

Vera Chinese has been the editor of northforker.com and northforker magazines since May 2014. Prior to that she spent two and a half years as a staff reporter for the New York Daily News. She joined the Riverhead News-Review as a staff writer in January 2010 and was named Associate Web Editor nine months later. She previously worked for the Southampton Press Western Edition and was named the third place 2008 Rookie Reporter of the Year by the New York Press Association. She graduated from Wagner College in 2006 where she received a bachelor's degree in English. She earned a master's degree in English education from New York University in 2007. She is a 2002 graduate of Eastport High School and has lived on the East End for more than 20 years.

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