Spaghetti Dinner Helps Ailing Firefighter

are rallying around one of their members to help raise money for his medical costs as he waits for kidney and pancreas transplants.

Bryan Pritchard has been a firefighter with Bower Hill in Scott Township for nine years and was diagnosed with Stage 5 chronic renal disease in August 2009, according to the department. The operation, which could be two or three years away, typically costs $250,000 and his insurance will only cover about 80 percent of that.

So the department is hosting a spaghetti dinner at the fire hall from 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets can be purchased at the door and are $8 for adults and $4 for children. The dinner includes spaghetti and meatball, salad, bread and butter, dessert and a drink.

According to the fire department, Pritchard was just 9 years old when he was having back pain and rushed to a Fayette County hospital before falling into a diabetic coma. He was later transported to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh and has been taking insulin ever since the episode.

Pritchard is now 40 and lives in the Birdland neighborhood of Scott Township. He no longer can fight fires, but still plays a very active roll in the department. He continues to attend meetings and sits in as an observer during drills, according to the fire department.

If you can’t attend the spaghetti dinner, but would like to donate money to an organ transplant fund in his name by mailing a check made payable to Bryan Pritchard Fund at the .

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