850-pound Wayne woman banned from returning to flooded 8th-floor apartment
The 33-year-old is currently in the hospital and is scheduled to be released, but says she cannot return to her eighth-floor apartment in Wayne because it is considered a fire hazard.
WAYNE, Michigan (FOX 2) – A woman who weighs about 380 kilos doesn’t know where to go.
Juaunia Bates is currently at Corewell Health Wayne Hospital. She is scheduled to be released at midnight, but says she cannot return to her eighth-floor apartment in Wayne.
According to Bates, she was told that her size was one of the reasons she was denied re-entry into her home because she was considered a “fire hazard” due to her limited mobility.
“I just can’t go on living like this,” Bates said. “I want to be free.”
The 33-year-old gained more than 90 kilograms in her apartment and had not been outside for about two years after a devastating weight loss.
“In 2018, my boyfriend was murdered in front of me, so I hid from the world and things kind of spiraled out of control,” she said.
Bates added that she felt like a prisoner in her apartment at the Westchester Tower Apartments and continues to feel trapped in her own body.
“A normal day is just laying in bed and doing nothing,” she told FOX 2.
Bates has struggled with her weight throughout her life and has recently been dependent on her mother’s care, but she wants to change that.
“My mother is 53 and I don’t want her to take care of me,” she said. “I’m supposed to take care of her.”
Because of her weight, Bates develops lymphedema in her legs—an extreme buildup of fluid—which causes her to develop bedsores.
The wounds have gotten significantly worse in the last month.
“It’s almost like a knife constantly stabbing my legs,” the Wayne woman said. “So I called 911 and they tried to find a way to get me out of the house. They wanted to tie me up with ropes to get me out the window, but I was scared.”
Eventually, 15 paramedics and firefighters managed to get her into the apartment complex’s elevator, and an ambulance took her to the hospital.
Now that her condition is under control, the hospital and Medicare want her discharged, Bates says.
And because her apartment complex has classified her as a fire hazard, she can’t return home.
A Corwell Health spokesperson said: “Due to privacy reasons, we cannot comment on the specific condition of the patients.”
She has until noon Thursday to apply to Medicare for an extension of her hospital stay. But she is also at the mercy of the public housing authorities, which can take weeks to process a move.
“They’re trying to get me a room on a lower floor, but there’s nothing available right now… I don’t know where to go,” Bates said. “I just want help. I don’t want to be like this anymore. I’m tired, my body is tired and I don’t want to die.”
While Bates tries to find other housing options, she says there are very few affordable housing options suitable for someone her size.
You can watch the full story in the player below at 11 p.m.
