Woman who ballooned to 825 pounds after witnessing boyfriend’s horrific murder is now deemed a ‘fire hazard’ with tragic result
A woman who gained hundreds of pounds after witnessing her boyfriend’s murder says she has been deemed a “fire hazard” and has been banned from returning home.
Juaunia Bates, 33, of Wayne, Michigan, claimed she was denied access to her eighth-floor apartment at Westchester Towers due to the fire hazard, as she currently weighs more than 800 pounds, she said. Fox 2 Detroit.
Bates gained more than 200 pounds after witnessing her boyfriend murdered in 2018. She became so scared that she boarded up the doors to her home.
“It put me in a bad position where I literally locked myself in my own body,” she said.
The Michigander’s weight caused her to develop lymphedema — a buildup of fluid — in her legs, causing pressure sores so bad it felt like a knife was “constantly being twisted” in her limbs. So she called 911.
It took 15 emergency workers and firefighters to remove her from the apartment via the elevator after she refused to be tied to ropes and pulled out of the window.
“I was scared,” she told Fox 2.
Juaunia Bates, 33, of Wayne, Michigan, claims she has been denied access to her eighth-floor apartment at Westchester Towers due to the fire hazard, as she currently weighs more than 800 pounds.
Bates gained hundreds of pounds after witnessing her boyfriend murdered in 2018 and fear struck, causing her to board up her house and gain more than 200 pounds
She was taken to Corewell Health Wayne Hospital and has not yet been discharged. Bates had to file an appeal with Medicare to be allowed to remain in the hospital longer.
She claims she has nowhere to go after the fire because her apartment complex considers her dangerous, a claim the management company disputes.
“Ms. Bates is welcome at Westchester Towers and we look forward to her return home,” Andrew F. Smith of Princeton Enterprises, which manages the building, told Fox 2.
“We are not aware of any restrictions that would prevent her from returning and wish her all the best.
It took 15 paramedics and firefighters to get her out of the apartment via the elevator after she refused to be tied to ropes and pulled out of a window after recently calling 911 about painful fluid buildup in her legs.
According to reports, management is preparing a first-floor apartment for her, but she fears she will not be able to care for herself there.
“I don’t have the right medical equipment,” she told the outlet. “Medicare and Medicaid don’t pay for a lot of things.
“I just needed help. I can’t keep living like this,” she continued. “My biggest fear was going home and not getting help and just dying — that was my biggest fear.”
Bates’ social worker tries to help her find personal trainers and physical therapists to help her get healthy again.
She claims she has nowhere to go afterward because her apartment complex considers her a danger — something her management company disputes. “We are not aware of any restrictions that would prevent her from returning and wish her the best,” said Andrew F. Smith of Princeton Enterprises, which manages the building.
She also got a call from a rehab center in Ohio that “is opening a bariatric unit and they want me to come over there,” she told the local outlet.
Bates hopes that one day she will be able to walk again and go outside and that she will no longer be a burden to her family, because I feel like the biggest burden is myself.
She has been relying more and more on her 53-year-old mother lately.
The Midwesterner is hopeful for the future, saying it will “only” be [be] ‘From here up.’
“I just can’t keep living like this. I want to be free.”