ALTADENA, Calif. (KGO) — A Rose Bowl field worker is among the many people who lost their homes in the Eaton Fire. It comes a year after he was a victim of a random shooting that left him paralyzed from the waist down.
But in the face of adversity, he’s sharing his undying message of hope.
“This a good dude here, Willie Youngblood. Good guy!”
But not everything has been good lately for Willie, who is part of the stadium field crew at the Rose Bowl.
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You see up until last week, Youngblood lived in an Altadena home with his dad, his sister, his nephew, his niece, and his dog.
Fire took their house.
“Only thing still standing is the chimney. It’s like a movie man, I ain’t even gonna lie. It was devastating to my dad because my dad worked hard,” said Youngblood.
But Willie is a bit modest, you see he’s been working hard, too. A video shows a clip of him in rehab, months after he was randomly shot getting a soda in a store – a shooting that happened last year and left him paralyzed and in this wheelchair.
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The former high school football star at John Muir High also has a second job working with autistic children.
“Everybody goes through trials and tribulations, I was just always taught, man just keep your head on and keep fighting, eventually you’re going to get out that mud,” said Youngblood.
Willie’s not doing it alone though, he’s got a community of fellow Rose Bowl workers by his side.
“Great person right here. She’s always going to check up on me,” said Youngblood, talking on a coworker who responded, “Checking on him daily, making sure he got what he needed.”
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“We’re here to support him and he needs some support and anything that anyone can do to help him and his family out,” said Michael Jenkins, who is a Rose Bowl event manager.
In addition to the fire and shooting, three of Youngblood’s family members passed of cancer and pneumonia in the last year. He says he wants to rebuild for his dad.
“He’s sitting there saying he always keep telling me, I don’t got that long to live. For him, I’m just praying and hoping we can get his house fixed back up and he could be comfortable and stuff. My message to the other people who lost their home – keep fighting, don’t give up hope, there’s a light out there, trust me, rebuild,” said Youngblood.
Youngblood and his family have a GoFundMe setup and already, community members have raised more than $100,000. That page can be found here.
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