FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Firefighters from Nuuanu Station 25 carried 95-year-old Marie Byrer, right, up the stairs to the house of her granddaughter, Debbie Mann, on Christmas Eve. The house is above Puunani Place.
Getting some help
up the hillNuuanu firefighters bring
a family together for
a special Christmas
Ninety-five-year-old Marie Byrer got to spend Christmas with her granddaughter thanks to some Honolulu firemen with big hearts and the muscles to match.
On Christmas Eve, Capt. Dennis Lewis, of the Nuuanu Station 25, had three of his men carry Byrer up the 41 stairs to the Alewa Heights home of her granddaughter, Debbie Mann.
"My Christmas wish was to be able to have Grandma at my house," Mann said. "I didn't know who to ask -- I have no close friends or family. I was racking my brain, then it popped into my head (to ask the firemen)."
Mann said Lewis was "so warm and nice" to agree instantly to her request so she and her grandmother, who lives in a retirement home in Punaluu, could spend a few days together.
"It's so much more special to have her here than just spending a few hours with her (at the home) and driving back," Mann said yesterday.
About 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Mann and Byrer met Lewis and three firemen -- Aaron Lenchanko, Reid Kawano and Keith Ito -- at the bottom of the stairs.
Lewis said he borrowed a canvas chair to carry Byrer up the stairs, and "supervised" the firemen as they carried her up the winding staircase.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Firefighters Reid Kawano, left, Capt. Dennis Lewis, Keith Ito and Aaron Lenchanko, from Nuuanu Station 25, carried Marie Byrer up the stairs to the house of her granddaughter, Debbie Mann, on Christmas Eve so the two women could spend several days together.
They were talking and laughing, and by the time they reached the top, "we were huffing and puffing," Lewis said.
Byrer, who uses a walker, took care of Mann from the time she was 2 weeks old, and off and on throughout her life. "She's the only family I have," Mann said.
Byrer said: "This was the most wonderful experience of my life. It was such a nice surprise!"
Lewis actually got to play Santa to the women twice on Christmas Eve.
Around 9 that night, "I heard a 'Ho! Ho! Ho!' at the door," Mann said. "It was Santa Claus -- the captain dressed as Santa -- (who said) 'I hear someone very special is here tonight.' He gave us some cookies. I was in shock. Then I was in tears."
Lewis said he enjoyed fulfilling a lifelong dream to play Santa on Christmas Eve, wearing the new, red velvet costume that his wife gave him Tuesday.
Lewis was on his way back from a party, where he had played Santa, when he remembered Mann and her grandma. "I had a bag of cookies my grandmother baked" to give to them, Lewis said.
"This is something firemen like to do; it's a very fulfilling community service," he said. "People appreciate it, and they (firemen) feel like they did a good deed."
Lewis and his men were supposed to carry Byrer down the stairs yesterday, but he offered to give the women a few more days together and come back Monday instead.
Monday will also be the last day for Lewis, who is retiring after 29 years with the department.
"When you walk out of there, you feel good, like you did make a difference," he said.
