After House Fire, O'Brien Family Recovers with Community Support

On Thursday, February 9, the O’Brien family . Since then, the O’Briens have witnessed an outpouring of support from the community in the form of clothing, housewares, monetary, and gift card donations, but they are still without the basic supplies or a home where they can adequately care for 19-year-old Alyssa, who is severely disabled and cannot move or speak.

In the days following the fire, The O’Brien family has been staying with Laurie’s sister, Debbie Palazzolo in Fanwood. Laurie’s brother in law, John Palazzolo reached out to Steve Barba, an old friend, and Scotch Plains Softball A- league teammate for help. For the last two years, Barba has worked to raise money for another teammate’s disabled teenage daughter.  

“Joe and Kathy DiFabio have a handicapped daughter Cathleen that, like Alyssa, is totally incapacitated. Kathy had liquidated her 401K and they were paying for medical supplies out of their pocket.  We raised about $14,000 between the two tournaments,” Barba said.  

Barba reached out to Rifton who after hearing Alyssa’s story, agreed to donate the equipment. Rifton Administrative Support staff member, Carmen Hinkey was one of the three who helped deliver the equipment on Wednesday, February 15, to the Palazzolo home in Fanwood.

“It’s easy to hide behind a sales desk, but when you have a face and a family to pair with the sale, it all becomes real,” Carmen Hinkey said.

Surrounded by friends and family, Laurie accepted the donation delivered by Rifton Equipment. The bathing chair and shower accessories, valued at $1,300 will help Laurie enormously in the days to come. Still, O’Brien explained that her family continues to face new difficulties in the days following the fire.

O’Brien recently learned that because their Portland Avenue home is technically structurally sound, the insurance company wants to gut the entire inside of the house (plumbing and electric included) and rebuild instead of demolishing.

“We know that this is going to be the beginning of a long battle,” O’Brien said. “My fear is that rebuilding may medically affect Alyssa in the long run. My child has an immune deficiency and poor respiratory system. Can they guarantee me that the fire sealant or the construction will not cause her more pain?”

She also expressed that she and her husband Tom have spent countless hours and dollars on renovations to make their home accessible for Alyssa. O’Brien stated that she hopes that she can help the building engineers make adjustments, such as widening a doorway or changing the structure of her bathrooms to further accommodate Alyssa’s needs.

 “Alyssa is an angel. She has been through so much. It is hard for me to imagine why this could have happened. It is a miracle that she is still with us. She suffered no injuries, not even smoke inhalation. She was fast asleep when Tom rescued her from her bed.”

O’Brien also spoke about how her 11-year-old son, Colin, and husband Tom are doing. She shared that Tom, who works in heating and cooling, has only been at his current job for about a year. Before that, he was out of work. This put a strain on the one income family. 

“We have been so fortunate to have this community reach out. They know us; Tom is very involved with community service at St. Bartholomew Church. He is used to being the one who gives so it is very hard for him to accept all that we are being given. I think he internalizes all of this pain… We are also striving to find emotional support for Colin. He stays pretty busy but he will have moments where he becomes overwhelmed. He turned to me the other day and said ‘when will I have a home to put my baseball cards?’ I don’t have an answer yet,” O’Brien said.

Despite the stress and transition the O’Brien family continues to deal with, O’Brien takes comfort in the fact that they are all still together under one roof. This includes the O’Brien’s exuberant and enormously friendly yellow lab, Kobey.

“My husband ran back into the house for Kobey,” O’Brien said. “He’s part of our family. I look at that house now and I can’t believe we all made it out without a scrape. I want to tell everyone I know to check your smoke detectors. It’s what saved our lives at 3 in the morning.”     

The O’Brien family is still looking for a home that can accommodate Alyssa’s needs. To learn more about how you can help the O’Brien family, . If you know of a company or organization like Rifton that may be able to help, send an email to emily5988@gmail.com.