Burn Notice

Wednesday January 25th 2017 is the worst day ever... Read on if you wish.

Daniel was at home with his mom Dawn getting the morning started. I had just left for work. Dawn was preparing breakfast and preparing his meds just like any regular morning. My son Daniel backed up to the stove in our home and his shirt caught on fire. The stove had a frying pan on the front burner and was cooking up a sausage patty for breakfast. The nylon long sleeve shirt set ablaze and burned his upper body badly. Daniel started to moan and cry out as he started to burn. Dawn ran to him and put him out but the flames were stubborn.

The flames would not stop. She was finally able to pour water upon him to douse the flames. (That whole stop/drop&roll thing didn't work for us). Then she called me and then 911. During the process of putting out the flames Dawn burned her hands and wrist. When I arrived about 10 minutes later Daniel was already in the ambulance on a stretcher. I reached out and held his hand. He looked scared. Mom and Dan headed to Denver Health - the first and closest hospital.

Dan was intubated there out of concern for his lungs and throat. He was then quickly transferred to the ICU Burn Unit at UC Health Hospital across town. This facility is one of two burn centers in the state and the hospital is ranked among all hospitals as a top 20 hospital in the country.

Background:
Daniel is 24 years old. He has autism and is non-verbal. Before the burn he was a light 113 lbs. Yup, he's a skinny guy like his dad. I'm not THAT skinny okay, but I am thin just like my dad Tom.