ToquiNotes: Former City Firefighter, Wife Dealing with Health Issues, Multiple Tragedies, in Need of Help
By Jeff Toquinto on March 01, 2025 from ToquiNotes
For a large part of his 53 years on this earth, former Harrison County resident and Bridgeport and Stonewood Volunteer Fireman Michael Clutter has made it a priority to help others. It has been the cornerstone of his professional life and also a component of his personal life.
Clutter, a registered nurse currently working at the Metro Alliance Surgery Center in Fort Myers, Fla., is now on the opposite end of the spectrum of where he typically has been. He, as well as his wife Celeste, needs help.
For Micheal, the need for help is due to a run of bad luck that defies logic. For his wife, it is the result of an ongoing battle with cancer. 
While both are trying to have as much normalcy as possible, the bearing weight of medical costs beyond insurance has reached a breaking point.
While both are trying to have as much normalcy as possible, the bearing weight of medical costs beyond insurance has reached a breaking point.
Before explaining the situation as how the Clutter family arrived in their predicament, a little bit of background. Both he and his wife, legitimate high school sweethearts, grew up in Stonewood. Celeste graduated from Roosevelt-Wilson in 1990, and Micheal graduated from Washington Irving in 1989,
Michael Clutter began his public service around 1990 doing medicine and eventually as a firefighter and emergency medical technician for the Stonewood and Bridgeport VFDs back around 2004, which he did for several years.
For Michael, it was part of putting his education to work. He graduated with a nursing degree from Fairmont State and had additional training at West Virginia University. He worked for more than two decades between United Hospital Center and at Ruby Memorial.
Celeste, who is 52, has been by his side locally and for the entire time during their stay in the Sunshine State. She has been making her living in sales and is still doing that despite a severe medical issue she is staring down.
“We came down here about five years ago,” said Michael. “We didn’t have kids, weren’t tied down, and workwise it would be better for Celeste here. Plus, my sister Sabrina was here so we just packed up and left.”
Things were going well until about two years ago, and just three days before Celeste’s 50th birthday. She would be diagnosed with stage 4 breast, spine, and liver cancer. Since that time, she has stared down chemotherapy, radiation, four reconstructive surgeries, a double mastectomy, and they are looking at another surgery, which Michael said at the present time they cannot afford.
“She’s still listed as stage 4. She’s on an oral chem pill and an estrogen blocker,” said Michael. “To give you an idea of what it costs to manage this, one medication costs 16 grand a month. As anyone who has had a medical situation involving cancer, insurance does not cover everything.”
For those who have dealt with, or had a loved one, face cancer, they know of the emotional roller coaster, time commitment, and general chaos it involves. What Michael and Celeste could have had no way of knowing was what Michael was going to endure. In fact, it is a safe 
bet to say it was not on anyone’s bingo card.
bet to say it was not on anyone’s bingo card.
“I was out riding my Harley in November of 2023 and I literally hit a black angus bull along a back road in Florida,” he said. “I came around a corner and it was standing sideways, and I plowed into it.”
The bull did not move. Michael Clutter did.
He ended up stuck under the motorcycle with his right foot crushed. He was not only pinned, but gasoline was leaking out as well and, for anyone familiar with the backroads of Florida, they can be desolate and without travelers for hours.
“I remember thinking about all the fire runs I had been on and that out in this sun I’m going to catch fire and that’s going to be it,” he said. “Then, through God, a girl I worked with pulled up with her husband and got the bike off of me.”
The incident resulted in more than one surgery. Eventually, his foot was rebuilt, and healing took place there as well with his ankle and Achilles tendon.
“For those most part the foot is okay. I can’t do a lot of the stuff I did before. That was hard to deal with on a lot of fronts, particular because you never think something like that will happen to you,” he said.
Then, something else happened to him. It has him in the situation he is currently in that is particularly troublesome. It was on Jan. 3 of this year while in their home in Cape Coral.
“Even though I compensate rather good for my foot surgery, one of the reasons I had the second incident was because of it. I stepped over our puppy and onto a dryer sheet, which was like grease and my foot went sideways. I tripped and fell, and even though it wasn’t really a full fall, I couldn’t catch myself on my back foot,” said Michael.
Tripping and falling are not unusual. 
Tripping and falling and getting hurt, also not unusual.
Tripping and falling and getting hurt, also not unusual.
Tripping and falling and having your eye hit directly into a bottle on a table behind a couch where the top hits nothing but the eyeball is unusual. More unusual? The bottle bobbled, but did not fall over.
“I thought I was fine, but Celeste stood up to see what was going on and I knew from her reaction that something was wrong; really wrong,” he said. “I hit it hard enough that it blew the back of my eyeball out.”
His wife’s reaction was the last thing he would see out of the eye as blindness swept in. Shortly thereafter, panic would arrive as an unwelcome guest.
That day, Michael Clutter would be in surgery in Miami for five hours. Doctors had to remove muscles from his eyeball to repair the lacerations in order to eliminate the need to remove it.
“They told me it was severe. They let me know it would be impossible to regain my sight in that eye,” he said. “I still know the eyeball is there. I can open my eyelid on my bad eye and see flashes of light, but that’s it. The sight is not coming back.”
A little more than a month removed from the major eye surgery Michael Clutter is working again. The only difference is he is not working directly with the surgeons and not going at it on a full schedule. He is no longer across from the surgeon assisting. He is no longer stitching up patients.
“Right now, I’m basically getting equipment ready for procedures and helping everyone else get ready,” he said. “Light, bright ones like you have in surgery or when you go outside, is a problem. I have to wear sunglasses, sometimes I have to wear them just to watch TV.”
The brightness issue will eventually correct itself as his brain adapts to what is going on. Doctors have told him it could take a few months or a few years before the adjustment takes place.
This past Thursday, Michael had another surgery to help regulate his good eye as his old eye was still full of blood. The hope prior to surgery was to help reduce the strain and improve the quality faster of his left eye. Unfortunately, Michael said the surgery did not have the desired results.
Despite everything, Michael Clutter remained upbeat. He knows he can rely on a few things – his wife, his family, and God. God is the newest part of the equation, and it came into play between running into the bull and hurting his eye.
“I was saved and found God. I was baptized last year and our church, Cape Christian, have been God sends for us,” Michael, who will 
celebrate 29 years of marriage with Celeste on March 8, said. “They help us clean the house; they shop for groceries for us. They’ve just been so instrumental in keeping us alive.”
celebrate 29 years of marriage with Celeste on March 8, said. “They help us clean the house; they shop for groceries for us. They’ve just been so instrumental in keeping us alive.”
As for Michael, who is still working one to two days per week, he said he would not be around without Celeste.
“I’d be dead by now without her, and I think she’d say the same about her situation. We’re in this together forever,” he said of his wife, who is still working full time in sales and is waiting for the result of a PET scan that was done this week. “It’s been trying and it’s hard to ask for help, but we need it.”
Perhaps you can help. After all, there is a chance years ago the man being talked about here helped save your life or that of someone you know. And there is still a chance he may do the same in the future.
If you get a second, visit his GoFundMe page. You can find it and donate HERE.
Editor's Note: Top photo shows Michael and Celeste Clutter working at a Serve Day for their Florida church. In the second image, Michael Clutter after his eye surgery. The third photo shows Celeste ringing the bell following one of her many cancer treatments. In the fourth photo is a young David Peasak and Michael completing rescue training school. In the fifth photo, Clutter, left, is shown on the roof of the Total Dental building when it caught fire and destroyed the Johnson Center in April of 2013. He is shown with Brent Harris. In the next image, Michael is having his eye examined, which continues to create issues for him. Bottom photo shows Michael is shown inside the surgery center in Florida prior to the accident with his eye. All photos courtesy of Michael Clutter.
.jpg)
Leave a Comment
Log in or create an account to post a comment.