After 5 weeks, Riverhead burn victim moved from ICU

Michael Hubbard, the 14-year-old Riverhead High School freshman who suffered severe burns during a gel candle explosion Memorial Day weekend, has been moved from the Intensive Care Unit at Stony Brook University Medical Center, family members said Saturday.

Michael, the son of Michael Hubbard, a custodian at the Southold Town senior center in Matttiuck, is now in the hospital’s Burn Center as his family waits for him to wake out of a coma.

“As far as the burns, I got a lot more info last night from the burn nurses,” his mother Nancy Reyer wrote on Michael’s recovery blog.  “It looks like a lot of his burns will heal .  He will have scaring on his chest.”

Michael suffered third-degree burns over 40 percent of his body while pouring gel fuel into an already lit candle May 28. He had been in the Intensive Care Unit ever since.

His mother was also injured during the incident and taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center. Michael is medically insured, but his mother, who had just started a new job, is not. She has since been on unpaid leave.

The Riverhead community has taken up a collection to help with the family’s medical bills.

To send a donation, make checks payable to Michael Hubbard Fund, c/o Fran Reyer, 81 Rabbit Run, Riverhead NY 11901. Or visit RiverheadLocal.com.