A woman who gained hundreds of pounds after witnessing the murder of her boyfriend says she has been deemed a “fire hazard” and claims she has been banned from returning home.
Juaunia Bates, 33, of Wayne, Michigan, said she was denied re-entry to her eighth-floor apartment at Westchester Towers because she poses a fire hazard since she currently weighs more than 800 pounds, she said. Fox 2 Detroit.
Bates gained more than 200 kilos after seeing her boyfriend murdered in 2018 and fear took hold of her, forcing her to stay locked in her house.
“It put me in such a bad situation that I was literally trapped in my own body,” she said.
The Michigan woman’s weight caused lymphedema (fluid buildup) in her legs, resulting in sores so severe that it felt like a knife was constantly being stabbed into her limbs. That’s why she called 911.
It took 15 paramedics and firefighters to get her out of the apartment via the elevator after she refused to be tied to ropes and pulled out of the window.
“I was scared,” she told Fox 2.
Juaunia Bates, 33, of Wayne, Michigan, said she was denied re-entry to her eighth-floor apartment at Westchester Towers because she poses a fire hazard since she currently weighs more than 800 pounds.
Bates gained hundreds of pounds after watching her boyfriend be murdered in 2018 and fear took hold, leading her to lock herself in her house and gain more than £200.
She was taken to Corewell Health Wayne Hospital and has not yet been released. Bates had to file an appeal with Medicare to be able to stay in the hospital longer.
She claims she has nowhere to go afterward because her apartment complex deemed her a danger, something the management company denies.
“Ms. Bates is welcomed at Westchester Towers and we look forward to her returning home,” Andrew F. Smith of Princeton Enterprises, which manages the building, told Fox 2.
‘We are not aware of any restrictions that would prevent him from returning and we wish him all the best.
It took 15 paramedics and firefighters to get her out of the apartment via the elevator after she refused to be tied up with ropes and pulled out of the window after recently calling 911 because of a painful buildup of fluid in her legs.
Management is reportedly working to get her a first-floor apartment, but she says she fears she won’t be able to take care of herself once there.
“I don’t have the proper medical equipment,” she told the outlet. “Medicare and Medicaid don’t cover a lot of things.”
“I just needed help. I can’t keep living like this,” she continued. “My worst fear was coming home and not getting help and dying. That was my worst fear.”
Bates’ social worker is trying to help her find personal trainers and physical therapists to help her get back on track.
She says she has nowhere to go afterward because the apartment complex where she lives deemed her a danger, something the management company denies. “We are not aware of any restrictions that would prevent her from returning and we wish her all the best,” said Andrew F. Smith of Princeton Enterprises, which manages the building.
She also received a call from a rehabilitation center in Ohio that “is starting a bariatric unit and they want me to go there,” she told the local outlet.
Bates hopes that one day she can “walk again and go outside and just not be a burden on my family anymore because I feel like I’m the biggest burden.”
Lately, she has been relying on her 53-year-old mother for help.
The Midwesterner is hopeful for the future and says it will “only get better” from here on out.
“I can’t go on living like this. I want to be free.”