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Child injured in Palm Street fire 'a fighter'

Photo

Submitted photo

This photo of 2-year-old Joey Ashmore of Janesville was taken three weeks before he suffered severe burns in a fire at his home at 327 N. Palm St. on May 10. Joey’s 7-year-old brother, Derek R.J. Mattingly, died in the blaze.

JANESVILLE — A Janesville 2-year-old badly burned in a May 10 fire is just few steps from home.

Doctors at a Cincinnati hospital want to make sure Joey Ashmore can walk before he comes home, his grandmother Denell (Ashmore) Taylor said. Doctors predict that will happen soon, and the Ashmore-Mattingly family hopes to come home Friday, June 27, Taylor said.

Benefits for the family are planned in Beloit and Janesville on Saturday, June 28.

Joey can sit up without help and responds when his family says his name, Taylor said. He no longer needs a respirator or feeding tubes, she said.

“He will even take food from his parents’ hands and feed himself,” Taylor said.

Joey was injured in a fire that killed his 7-year-old brother, Derek R.J. Mattingly. The fire at 327 N. Palm St. was accidentally started by another brother Owen A.P. Ashmore, 4, according to Janesville police reports.

Owen; his father, Scott A. Ashmore, 23, and two people in an upstairs apartment—including Derek’s grandmother, Laurie R. Ginter—escaped without injury.

Joey and Derek were in the same bedroom when two Janesville firefighters found them, Taylor said.

Owen had been staying with family while Ashmore and the boys’ mother, Kristarra M. Mattingly, 22, stayed in Joey’s room at the Shriners Hospitals for Children—Cincinnati, Taylor said. Owen was taken to the hospital this week to be with his family and will stay there until the whole family can come home, Taylor said.

Joey will wear a full-body elastic bandage 23 hours a day when he gets home, Taylor said. He will wear a plastic guard over his face to protect the healing skin.

He can throw a ball with his left hand, the only part of his body that isn’t bandaged, Taylor said.

Doctors first used donor skin grafts to cover Joey’s burns to see if the surgery would take, she said. Then, doctors used his own, healthy skin to cover the burns, Taylor said.

Joey still can talk, although not quite as well as he did before the fire, Taylor said.

“He’ll say, ‘TV,’ ‘mom’ and ‘dad,’” Taylor said. “When the lights go out, he’ll say, ‘I’m scared.’”

Joey can’t say, “I want that,” and other phrases he could use before he was burned, Taylor said, because the respirator irritated his throat, according to doctors.

Joey’s recovery is beyond Taylor’s expectations.

“His dad keeps saying he’s a fighter.”

IF YOU GO

Events in Janesville and Beloit to benefit the Ashmore-Mattingly family are scheduled for Saturday, June 28.

Janesville

Where: RoadDawgs Saloon & Eatery, 3402 Milton Ave., Janesville.

When: 3 to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 28.

Details: Karaoke, food and drink specials including: 2-for-1 burger baskets; $10 steak dinner; $5 brat, hot dog or BBQ baskets. $1 goes to the family with every purchase. All food will be served with free beer while supplies last. Two live bands, raffles and auctions.

For more information: Call (608) 756-2131.

Beloit

Where: Moose Lodge, 1806 Gale Drive, Beloit.

When: 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday, June 28.

Details: $7.50 steak dinner from 4 to 7 p.m. Raffles and silent auction.

For more information: Call (608) 563-4318.