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Community donations bring sick Scott Co. man home from Puerto Rico

Chad King has spent the past couple months working in fiber optics in Puerto Rico, helping the U.S. territory rebuild from Hurricane Maria.

A Scott County man is finally on his way back to the mainland United States to seek much needed medical treatment thanks to the help of his East Tennessee community.

Volunteers in Oneida spent their Sunday morning cooking.

"Hopefully up to 200 [people], that was the guess one of our volunteers said," said volunteer Alex Phillips.

People from all over Scott County gathered for a spaghetti lunch fundraiser Sunday afternoon with proceeds going toward Chad King's medical bills.

He's spent the last couple months working in fiber optics in Puerto Rico. He was helping the U.S. territory rebuild from Hurricane Maria.

But after a quick visit back home to Oneida, he got very sick.

"He is diagnosed with flu [types] A and B, pneumonia, and meningitis," said family friend Susan Terry. "He has lesions to the brain. He's having strokes. He is paralyzed from the waist down on the right side."

Terry said they believe King got sick on the plane ride back to Puerto Rico.

A colleague found King passed out in his room, and his wife Heather took the first flight out of Tennessee to be with him. Now, he has a long road to recovery.

"He's going to have to have physical therapy and occupational therapy," said Terry.

King's medical bills are astronomical, and they needed to get him back home as soon as possible.

So family and friends stepped up and worked fast to raise almost $60,000 in just six days for his medical expenses.

"There's no way they could have gotten back to the U.S. without all the donations from the community," said Terry.

Phillips is one of dozens of volunteers who doesn't know King personally.

But she knows he's a neighbor that needs help.

"If that was my mom, dad, aunt, uncle, whatever, I'd want everybody to do what they could," said Phillips. "And so it's just the least we could do to help get him home."

Enough money was raised to get King back to the U.S. mainland Sunday, with a bed waiting for him at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

He remains in critical condition.

If you would like to contribute to the family's growing medical costs, you can donate here.

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