NYLON – Heartbroken strangers will deliver Santa’s presents to the four-year-old Wayland boy who lost his mom in an accident on Rte. 63 in Dansville last week.
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Eric Williams II, himself a member of Springwater-Wayland EMS, is one of those strangers at the heart of the drive for Mason, the son of Shawn Martinez, 44, who passed away in Wednesday’s accident. He posted the above video to Facebook, calling for everyone to not only help first reponders deliver the presents but contribute to a trust fund that will grow until Mason is 18.
“I love our community, and when I heard that this four-year-old boy is now without a mother and his father is ill in inpatient care, I had to do something,” said Williams. “I may not be able to bring his mom back, but I can do everything in my power to ensure he has a smile on Christmas Day. The family already has the weight of paying for her funeral, plus Christmas. It’s so much. So I wanted to find something to help the family and make this little boy have an incredible Christmas.”
Complicating matters, family members post in a GoFundMe page that Mason has a hereditary disease, megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts (MLC). According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, MLC is ‘a progressive condition that affects brain development and function.’
“Shawn’s mother Pat is fighting for custody of Mason but she is going to need help with expences [sic] for Shawns funeral arrangements and plot for burrial [sic],” posted Heather Rawleigh to GoFundMe. “She is also going to need help with the cost of gas back and forth for Mason in Rochester to see his doctors and get his meds for his disease.”
Williams, with the help of the community and local fire and EMS companies, will deliver Christmas presents to Mason at his grandmother’s house in Wayland on Christmas Eve.
“The father is incapable of providing as he has an illness that has him in inpatient care for the last two years,” said Williams. “Mason was a miracle child for his mom she was told she would never have children.”
Williams is also starting a ‘trust fund’ with $1,000, with $500 more to be added each year until Mason is 18. Anyone can get in touch with Williams at his Facebook page here.
NYLON is the New York Local Online News section of the GeneseeSun.com, dedicated to uniting communities outside of Livingston County.
Shawn Martinez. (Photo/GoFundMe.com)