Healing Wounds

Okay, so many people ask about Kade and his leg that he burnt all the time. And if they don't know about it, they want to know what happened so I thought that I would give a little account of it, for those of you that have asked.

About two years ago Kade was working on his castle project for the 6th grade, when he decided he needed a break, so he went to his friend Bryce's house for a little while. After only a short time being there, my mom got a phone call from Kade saying that she needed to come get him now. She could tell something was wrong right away.

When she picked him up, he had on another pair of shorts, and his jeans in his hands. When she saw his leg she couldn't believe it. Apparently there were weeds burning, and Bryce had a cup of gasoline. It started to get hot, I guess, and scared him because it was burning his fingers so he tossed the gas. Unfortunately when he did, he threw it on Kade and his jeans caught on fire. Kade's shoe began to melt so he kicked it off and then tried to do stop, drop and roll. It wasn't putting the fire out, and from what he has said, he was screaming for help. He began to throw dirt on his pants and leg and then pat it out, and that finally stopped the fire.

My mom called a local doctor and he came and looked at Kade's leg and then told them to get to Show Low asap. On the way there, my mom turned on the air conditioning to try and help ease the heat of the burn. The doctors in Show Low had to stick these fat needles almost all the way through his little leg to test the degree of the burns. Around his ankle his skin was white and gray because it was so bad. He had second and third degree burns. He had to be air lifted to the burn unit in the valley. My mom left right then and there with him, and had nothing but two dollars in her pocket.

Kade spent about two of the most painful weeks in his life at the hospital. Every day his burn was scrubbed twice a day. This is one of the most painful things ever. They put you in a tub of water, and then gently scrub. Getting in the water alone, made grown men scream. After a few days he went into surgery to have a skin graft. They took the skin from the back of his thigh and then placed it on the burn. You can see from the pictures where he was burned, and where the skin graft was from. All of these pictures are from after he came home from the hospital so these look way better than it did before, if you can believe that! They had over 100 staples in his leg. All of these pictures are from after the skin graft had taken place and the staples were removed. So he was on the healing end of things.

I wanted to go see Kade, but my mom wanted me to stay at school because I had to study for finals. There were only two people Kade requested be with him, and one was my mom and the other was me, so she finally gave in and I came the weekend before finals. He had just had surgery at that point. It was one of the most emotional weekends I have ever had. I can't hardly talk about it now without tearing up. It was so hard to see my little brother in so much pain. Even the morphin that they give the patients doesn't cover the pain.

This is what his leg looks like now, after two years of healing. It has finally got some regular color in it. The place that they took the skin graft from is not even visible. It is truly amazing. Kade's nerves are still so close to the surface that if he gets kicked or hit in the leg it still hurts him today. He is an amazing kid, and I don't think I would have been as strong as him!