Baby Boy Fights For His Life After Deadly East Elmhurst Fire

EAST ELMHURST, QUEENS — An 11-month-old boy is still fighting to stay alive two weeks after a fire in East Elmhurst killed two of his relatives and left him and his mother with life-threatening burns, a family member says.

Liam Rodriguez on Wednesday left his hospital bed at Weill Cornell Hospital to fly to Shriners Hospital in Galveston, Texas, where a specialized team of pediatric burn doctors will try to save the baby boy's life.

"Liam's case is pretty much a rarity," his godmother, Denise Moreno, told Patch. "We're hoping for a miracle. We're praying."

"I don't know how to feel," Moreno added. "I'm nervous and just scared out of my mind, but at the same time very excited, very hopeful, grateful and appreciative that he's even at this point — to be stable enough to get to Texas. It's one emotional roller coaster right now."

His mother, Elizabeth, is still in Cornell's burn center, where doctors are trying to stabilize her enough to undergo surgery, Moreno said.

Liam was on vacation from the Dominican Republic with his mother, his grandfather Claudio and his six-year-old sister Ema when a houseguest used gasoline to torch the East Elmhurst home where the family was staying.

News reports identified the man as David Abreu Nuñez and say he started the July 10 fire after the homeowners told him to leave. Nuñez also died in the blaze.

Moreno, the godmother, started a GoFundMe on Tuesday to pay for Liam's medical costs and transportation, with the goal of raising $50,000. She previously launched a fundraiser to support the entire family.

Moreno said a doctor at Cornell called Liam the youngest patient they'd ever had who has survived such severe injuries for this long. He will turn one year old in August.

"He's definitely fighting," Moreno said.