Through a series of chance encounters and the unrelenting dedication of a team of people, a local baby boy recently received a much-needed piece of medical equipment
Ten-month-old Raylen Bullington, of Elizabethton, was born with a lifelong genetic disorder of the skin called Ichthyosis. His body creates new skin every 12 hours rather than every 21 days like most people.
“As it creates, it builds up, and we have to lotion because his skin is not a protective barrier,” his mother Rose explained, adding her son doesn’t sweat or regulate his own temperature.
Raylen’s mother and his father, Wes, could only bathe him every two weeks, and then would have to spend three days applying moisturizer to help his skin recover from the dryness.
Raylen visits many doctors and physical therapists that help him with movement, but Rose said he will always be small, noting his current weight at 16 pounds.
Maintaining healthy skin is no small feat, and in fact requires so much attention that Rose could not return to work after Raylen was born.
Heather Lynn, a member of the First Skin Foundation, introduced Wes and Rose to a powerful bath tub that exfoliates with microbubbles which get inserted into the layers of skin, lift off scaling and replace it with moisture which is a big deal for Raylen, because his mother said his skin dries out in regular water.
“Exfoliating without the tub is very expensive and difficult,” said Rose. “You have to pull the scales as they become ready which causes him to be susceptible to infection.”
This has been the family’s routine for 10 months, and Rose said it is very time consuming. The two-hour process of exfoliating his skin this way could be replaced with only 20 minutes in the specialized tub, she said.
When Raylen was two months old, Rose created a page with gofundme.com, a fundraising website, to help raise money to purchase one of the special tubs and to help cover the cost of medical bills and moisturizers. Not only are the tubs pricey, but they have to be custom made in Arkansas.
This meant it would take time and more than $5,000 to get the tub made, delivered and installed in their bathroom. But after hearing success stories, seeing videos and even testing out a tub, Rose and Wes saw the benefits.

The struggle would be getting the money, but through a series of what Rose believes were God-appointed meetings, the perfect team assembled and continued to grow in support of Raylen and the Bullington family.
The day after the tub was installed, Rose wrote on her blog (raylensjourney.wordpress.com):
“God always has a plan! Nothing takes Him by surprise. No path, no choice, no day, no moment, nothing! Each and every person involved in this amazing story has taken steps along the path of His guidance, to meet someday, in the center of our little universe, for this very appointed time and place in Raylen’s Journey.”
Team Raylen, as it came to be called, may have begun when Rose met Amy Pate. Or it may have begun when Amy and her fiancé Steve Murray met Rob and Kristina Caudill on a cruise just a few months ago.
Whenever it began, the team grew until the day the tub was installed on Saturday, Jan. 2.
The couples continued to be friends after meeting on the cruise, and one night at dinner, Pate and Murray began to explain Raylen’s condition to the Caudills. Pate explained how the Bullington family’s insurance companies were reluctant to cover the tub, despite its proven benefits. This sparked the Caudills’ interest.
Rob said at Christmas he and his wife like to do something for someone else rather than giving each other gifts.
Rose said Rob asked what he could do to help, and Pate said to pray about it. Rob said he felt God laid it on his heart to help.
After that dinner, it was less than two days before Rob was on the phone with the Hendersonville, N.C., distributor for the tubs placing an order.
Murray, a captain with the Elizabethton Fire Department, organized a team to install the tub. On that crew were Murray, Fire Marshall Andy Hardin, Sergeant Dennis Erwin, Engineers Jerry Smith, Mike Williams, Jr. McAnich and Tony Edwards and Firefighters Josh Hubbard, Jeremiah Tolley and Dalton Williams.

Each has different skills like plumbing, electrical, tiling and carpentry. But the crew had to make it happen on January 2.
“The folks in Hendersonville said there’s no way they can have it built and us pick it up by the time period I gave them,” said Rob.
After some calls to the folks in Hendersonville and Arkansas, Rob said they came through. Though they crossed that bridge, it was only the first of subsequent mishaps.
“The company in Arkansas ran into problems because the tub they built did not meet the criteria, so they had to scrap it and start over,” said Rob. “This was three days before I was supposed to pick it up.”
Then Rob got a call from the manufacturer on December 30, three days before the scheduled installation date, saying there was no way they could get the tub delivered in time, but they told him he could drive to Atlanta on New Years Day and get it.
Rob contacted Southeastern Freightliners and spoke with Jason Sutherland, who said he would have it shipped from Arkansas to Blountville, Tennessee and meet Rob on New Years Day.
“Transportation just goes to prove that God was in control of this whole mission,” Rob recalled.
Before Sutherland went to bed on New Years Eve, Rob said he checked on the delivery.
“He found out they inadvertently dropped it in Knoxville, and this guy gets up at 4 a.m. on his own time, and goes to pick it up and met me in Blountville at our prearranged time,” said Rob. “He went above and beyond and is a wonderful guy.”
By 9 a.m., they met and transferred the tub.
Meanwhile, the team of firefighters was having breakfast preparing for a full day of work at Nanny’s Kitchen. While there, Murray said a man paid for all of their breakfasts.
“Everything fell into place,” said Murray. “There was a lot of prayer.”
Murray said a dozen of them worked to tear the old tub and sheet rock out, leveling the floor and squaring the wall to prepare for the installation. Once the Jason International tub was set in, the ceramic tile was installed by 4 p.m. that afternoon.

“We put it in the day we planned to,” said Murray. I don’t know how many stone walls we encountered, but they didn’t stand. We had to rely on a lot of people and we don’t take ‘no’ easily.”
Rose said Raylen loved his first bath and so did his brother.
“It’s like a swimming pool for them,” she said.
Raylen can use it daily and for up to an hour and a half if he wants to do so, and she said, “He rests very well now.”
The tub and installation came at no cost to the family and allows them to put donations toward expensive medical bills, lotions, humidifiers, cooling vests and other supplies.
“We wouldn’t have been able to get this done for years, and the cost of everything done was just shy of $5,000 to $7,000,” said Rose.
The project brought together a team of professionals for a cause, but from it came a gift to a family that most members of Team Raylen equate to a miracle.
“We became friends through this project, but the project was not about us,” said Rob. “It was about helping this baby out, and to me, that was the best feeling. To get to do that and to be a part of that was spectacular.”
Not only did baby Raylen get the therapeutic tub, but his 6-year-old brother Aidan got a basketball goal, and Rob, owner of Rocky Top Installers, is replacing the vanity in the bathroom as well. His wife also donated to the family a free photo session.
“It was an absolutely amazing Christmas for us,” said Rose. “I can’t even say it without tears, it’s better than anything we’ve ever gotten or could have expected.”