BATON ROUGE — Not even an hour after UWK‘s report on a mother begging for any help to bury her 20-year-old son, a donor stepped up and offered to cover the cost of the entire funeral. His words carried tremendous weight when he spoke to the funeral home’s director first thing Wednesday morning and paid the total of $5,200.
“Just felt like the right thing to do. It’s not about the money, It’s about this mother being able to bury her child. I can only imagine what it’s like to lose a child unexpectedly,” said Ryan, who asked for his last name not to be included.
In the report, UWK spoke with Lacey Hutchinson, whose 20-year-old son Landon Hutchinson died suddenly on Sunday when a blood clot led up to a heart attack. Landon had a wreck in Livingston Parish in April 2023 where he was ejected out of his truck, broke his C3 & C4 and was paralyzed from the neck down. Lacey did not have the money to bury her son.
The donor reached out to UWK Tuesday night offering to pick up the entire cost of the funeral and casket. That came after spending the day with his 70-year-old dad, who is battling cancer, in a deer stand to simply get him out of the house.
“Yesterday morning, in my morning prayer, I said, ‘God, I would like you to please put someone in my path that I can help today.’ I got to thinking about it, sitting in a deer stand that who am I possibly going to be able to help while I’m in the middle of nowhere in the woods at the camp? Before I went to bed last night, I looked at my phone real quick. The very first thing that popped up was your article. I was like, ‘Well, here we are.’ You can’t make it up. I was like, really? So crazy how that works,” Ryan explained.
UWK did connect Ryan with Landon Hutchinson’s mother Lacey.
“Honestly, we did not know what we were going to do. I was so lost, so upset. Like normally, every morning I’m waking up crying and devastated. I haven’t even shed a tear this morning, I’m so full of joy,” Lacey Hutchinson told UWK on Wednesday. “Words cannot express how thankful I am. I’m telling you I feel like God and Landon sent him to me and I just I’m so thankful for him.”
Ryan is a business owner in Baton Rouge, Redstick Roofing. Unfortunately, he says over his lifetime, he has lost numerous friends and knows that pain all too well, although he added he has not lost a child and could not even begin to imagine Hutchinson’s stress.
“I used to live paycheck to paycheck for a long, long time and I watched my parents struggle their whole lives, living paycheck to paycheck. Good Lord willing, I’m blessed and don’t have to do that these days. One thing that I always said is, if I could ever be successful, I would give back to the community. So that’s exactly what I do. I believe firmly in it so that’s just how it happened,” Ryan said.
Lacey Hutchinson says she’s still in shock from seeing the paid receipt for the entire amount.
“I about dropped when I called them and they told me it’s paid in full and that we don’t have to worry about it. Words can’t express what is going through my mind right now,” she said.
Hutchinson’s voice alone speaks volumes in how appreciative she is for the generous donation.
“She seemed almost like numb to me if I’m being honest. But she sent me a text this morning and she said: Thank you. Words can’t describe what you’ve done for me. I was in such a bad way and didn’t know how I was going to lay him to rest. You don’t know how much stress has come off of me. God bless you for helping me. And I truly believe that. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.“
Hutchinson’s GoFundMe was also able to collect money prior to the cost being paid. She said she will now put that money towards a head stone for her son and catch up on bills that she is behind on because her full-time job became taking care of Landon. The single mom also has three other children. She added she’s beyond grateful for every single donation and prayer.
“Thank everyone and everybody that has said a prayer, has donated, like I truly and deeply appreciate and love every one of them that has helped me get through this with Landon to put us at ease,” the mother said as she held back tears of joy.
“I just give all the glory to God to allow me, to put me in a position to help other people in the community,” the donor closed with, grateful to cover the cost of the funeral.
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