We turn now to Gayle Laverne Grinds, of Martin County FL, who according to WSVN-TV, “died yesterday, after a failed six-hour effort to dislodge her from the couch in her home. Workers say the home was filthy, and Grinds was too large to get up from the couch to even use the bathroom.”The Palm Beach Post continues the tale.
“I tried to take care of her the best I could,” said 54-year-old Herman Thomas, who lived with Grinds in the duplex apartment in Golden Gate, south of Stuart. “I tried to get her to get up, but it wouldn’t do no good.”
He said the woman that he called his wife hadn’t been off the couch for six years. […]
“I wish I could have pulled her off the couch, but she wouldn’t let me,” he said, covering his face and sobbing.
Inside the home, the floor and walls were matted with feces, and trash was strewn across the floors, some which were bare concrete. Furniture was toppled, and pictures were knocked off walls. […]
Rescue workers were called to the home at 8:44 p.m. Tuesday by Grinds’ brother and his girlfriend, who reported the woman had trouble breathing and ̴emphysema problems.” The crew initially tried to remove her from the couch, but the pain was too excruciating.
Workers wore protective clothing and installed large air handling hoses to ventilate the horrendous odor emitting from the home while trying to figure out how to get the woman and her couch to the hospital.
He said the woman that he called his wife hadn’t been off the couch for six years. […]
“I wish I could have pulled her off the couch, but she wouldn’t let me,” he said, covering his face and sobbing.
Inside the home, the floor and walls were matted with feces, and trash was strewn across the floors, some which were bare concrete. Furniture was toppled, and pictures were knocked off walls. […]
Rescue workers were called to the home at 8:44 p.m. Tuesday by Grinds’ brother and his girlfriend, who reported the woman had trouble breathing and ̴emphysema problems.” The crew initially tried to remove her from the couch, but the pain was too excruciating.
Workers wore protective clothing and installed large air handling hoses to ventilate the horrendous odor emitting from the home while trying to figure out how to get the woman and her couch to the hospital.
And WFTV rounds it out to its conclusion:
Emergency workers had to remove some sliding glass doors and lift the couch, with Grinds still on it, to a trailer behind a pickup truck. Removing her from the couch would be too painful, since her body was grafted to the fabric. After years of staying put, her skin had literally become one with the sofa and had to be surgically removed.
She died at Martin Memorial Hospital South, still attached to the couch.
Neighbors say they had no idea Grinds lived at the duplex, though they had seen Thomas and some children outside.
She died at Martin Memorial Hospital South, still attached to the couch.
Neighbors say they had no idea Grinds lived at the duplex, though they had seen Thomas and some children outside.
It’s hard to imagine a more horrid life or a more pathetic and humiliating death. What’s worse is now she will be remembered for how she literally lived like a pig. I guess the moral of this story is “Get Up Off Your Couch Before It’s Too Late.”
Either that or at least buy a couch with detachable cushions.
P.S.: I can’t believe I just wrote half a page about this woman but could barely muster two sentences about Fay Wray. My values (and writing skills) are warped.
Fat people who grow to couches are terrorists.
:gulp:
I am going over to the treadmill to do an extra 40 minutes right now!
d.chedwick b.
NYC