Firefighters Help Twins Celebrate Belated Birthdays

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, MI — Robin Pongracz won’t soon forget the kindness Dearborn Heights’ firefighters have recently shown her family. She and husband Jeff suffered numerous injuries in a Feb. 17 car crash — the same day a birthday celebration was planned for their twins. First responders from the department cared for the couple, and later made sure Jayden and Bella had some cool gifts for their rescheduled party.

The Dearborn Heights couple was out running errands when another vehicle made a left turn in front of them at Inkster and Ford roads, hitting them nearly head on, the Dearborn Press and Guide reported. Robin and Jeff were quickly transported to St. Mary Mercy Livonia Hospital after the crash, with Robin suffering a broken wrist and Jeff a broken ulna and radius.

To make matters even worse, the car was full of groceries and gifts for the twins’ party. Another crew from the Dearborn Heights Fire Department, however, came to get what was salvageable of the items. Robin Pongracz told the Dearborn Press and Guide she was overwhelmed with how firefighters and paramedics responded to their plight.

“It was such a scary and frightening situation that we had never experienced before but were lucky enough to have such a wonderful rescue team,” she told the newspaper. “They were so kind and so worried about our kids birthday celebration. It’s not every often that people get compliments about things these days, and these men and women put their lives in jeopardy daily.”

The twins were unhurt in the incident having been dropped off at school shortly before the crash. But at just seven years old, Jayden and Bella had a hard time understanding just how badly their parents were hurt. The children were disappointed the party and other plans had to be delayed as the couple started to recuperate.

“We were planning to go to Kalahari (water park) the next day and have family over Sunday,” Robin Pongracz told the Dearborn Press and Guide . “But instead they came over more to help us out and get everything situated. We couldn’t really cook or do much of anything with our casts.”

Last month, a group of Dearborn Heights firefighters stopped by with a cake, card, coloring books and hats for the kids. The gifts came in handy at the twins makeup birthday party. “It was so kind of them to follow through even a month later,” Robin Pongracz told the newspaper. “They had worried about it being the kids’ birthday.”

The entire ordeal has made the lifelong Dearborn Heights resident even more appreciative of the first responders that serve the community. “The level of helpfulness displayed spoke volumes about how much they care about the people in their community and level of excellence they use when it comes to just doing their daily assignments,” Robin Pongracz told the Dearborn Press and Guide.

“To these courageous people it may feel like routine and simple tasks but to us it was much more,” she said. “We cannot thank these guys enough for the excellent job they did that day and every day they work.”

Photo by Andrew Malone via Flickr Commons