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Doctors cautiously optimistic about burned Broward boy's recovery

Doctors treating Michael Brewer, the Broward boy badly burned by five classmates, said on Thursday that they had completed the first of many surgeries to repair the extensive damage to the boy's skin and expressed cautious optimism about his recovery.

``This is going as well as it can be hoped to go. Nothing bad has happened, and in our world that's good,'' Dr. Nicholas Namias, director of the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Burn Center, told reporters at a news conference.

Michael, said Namias, underwent surgery for the first time Monday when doctors took skin grafts from cadavers to temporarily cover burns on his body.

Community, nation reaching out to help burned Deerfield Beach teen

Offers of help poured in from around the country.

Callers said they were moved by the story of 15-year-old Michael Brewer, the Deerfield Beach boy set on fire Monday by five classmates. And each told the family and hospital staff they wanted to help.

The boy's brother-in-law, Danny Martinez, said each call began the same way.

Doctors encouraged by burned Broward boy's recovery

Doctors treating Michael Brewer, the Broward boy badly burned by five classmates, said on Thursday they had completed the first of many surgeries to repair the extensive damage to the boy's skin and expressed cautious optimism about his recovery.

``This is going as well as it could be hoped to go. Nothing bad has happened, and in our world that's good,'' Dr. Nicholas Namias, director of the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Burn Center, told reporters at a news conference.

Brewer underwent surgery for the first time Monday when doctors cut away portions of the burns. They took skin from cadavers to temporarily cover the burns. The bandages were to be removed Thursday to see how he was healing. He remains in critical condition, Namias said.

Mom of burned boy in TV appeal to end youth violence

Saying she was ``disgusted'' and ``angry'' with the heinous crime committed against her 15-year-old son, the mother of the Broward County boy set on fire this week by five schoolmates appeared on several national television networks Thursday morning pleading to the public for an end to youth violence.

``Our country, our world, needs to wake up and see what is going on with our children. They need to do something. This has got to stop.

``It's not just my son, it's everybody's children. This could happen to somebody else,'' said Valerie Brewer in an interview on the CBS Early Show.

Burned teen Michael Brewer holding on to life; prognosis grim

Four days ago, Michael Brewer Jr. was celebrating his 15th birthday with his family, a happy teenager doing back flips in the swimming pool.

On Wednesday, the slight, blonde-haired teenager was heavily bandaged in intensive care at the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Burn Center, suffering from burns on 65 percent of his body. Gone were his eyebrows and eyelashes, along with most of the hair on the right side of his head. If he survives, his recovery will take months, say doctors.

The Deerfield Beach seventh-grader was burned by five schoolmates who attacked him during a squabble over a video game and a bicycle, according to authorities.