Man gets tickets from Team Gleason to Super Bowl - Dies in fire on way to game

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A good deed from New Orleans' Team Gleason Foundation ended in tragedy over the weekend when a man who received Super Bowl tickets from the group died on the way to the game.

Ed Cushman, a North Carolina man living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, was killed Saturday when the minivan he was driving in with his older brother ignited on the side of a Georgia highway, foundation officials said Monday. Cushman had asked the foundation, which advocates for those living with the neuromuscular disease, to help him find Super Bowl tickets that would provide him with Americans with Disabilities Act seating.

While the two brothers were driving south on Interstate 85 in Franklin County, just a couple of hours outside of Atlanta, Robert Cushman’s 2007 Dodge Caravan began smoking from underneath, State Patrol officials there said.

Robert Cushman stopped on the side of the road and stepped out of the minivan to figure out what was causing the smoke. As he did, smoke poured out of the car, and flames erupted out of each side of the vehicle, police said.

Robert Cushman was unable to pull from the van Ed Cushman, who was in a wheelchair as well as on a ventilator. Robert Cushman had to retreat as the flames became too intense, State Patrol said.

Ed Cushman ultimately died in the burning van.

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