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SEFFNER, Fla. (WFLA) — The two Hillsborough deputies awarded for saving a Seffner boy from a raging house fire joined him on the field for his homecoming football game on Saturday.
Alex Maldonado and Kevin Reich walked Owen Ares onto the field at E.L. Bing Park for the Seffner Seahawk’s homecoming game. The deputies have kept in touch with Owen and his family since the May 19 fire that landed him in the hospital with severe burns.
The Seffner community rallied around the then-9-year-old after heart-stopping video showed the frantic moment deputies saved his life. He was sedated and placed on a ventilator at the Tampa General Hospital for several days to allow his body to heal.
“I think I speak for all the plastic and burn team that it’s amazing to see,” the Pediatric Trauma Medical Director at Tampa General Hospital, Dr. Keith Thatch, said in a June 1 interview. “It’s amazing to see kids recover, how well they recover. There’s a significant amount of trauma both emotionally and physically. I think that his body will go through a lot of recovery, the burn team and plastic team will continue to help him with that and we’ll see. I think right now he’s making strides, literally and so those are always good things.”
Owen was reunited with the deputies who saved his life in early June. Shortly after the reunion, Owen helped Sheriff Chad Chronister present the Life Saving Award to the two deputies at the Second Quarter Awards Ceremony at the Faulkenburg Road Jail.
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“Heroic actions and steadfast service to our community are achievements that deserve to be celebrated, and this is our chance to say thank you to those who have played a major role in making Hillsborough County an excellent place to live,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chronister said.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers invited Owen to visit their training camp in August, alongside Sheriff Chronister. The Bucs rolled out the red carpet for the young fan and his family, letting them get up close and personal with the players as they trained. The Bucs also gifted Owen a football.
After Saturday’s game, Owen’s mom, Karen McGinnis, said he celebrated by getting his mop of blond hair chopped off.
“Now he looks like quite the young man!” Karen wrote in an email to News Channel 8.
