GoFund Jessie
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On December 30, 2011, in Montgomery, Alabama, Crumpton West had put a large pot of collards on the stove to boil. Her uncle was living with Crumpton West, her husband, sons, and paternal grandmother. “He had been in and out of trouble,” says Crumpton West of her uncle. “He was staying with us trying to get back on his feet.”
That day, after learning that her grandfather had given her a truck, her uncle flew into a drunken rage and threw the boiling water on Crumpton West, she says. She turned to her right to try to protect herself, sustaining third-degree burns over her right arm, chest, and legs, and second-degree burns on the left side of her face and left arm. The boiling water also landed on her middle son and her grandmother, slightly burning them.
Crumpton West says she didn’t think her injuries were that bad initially—though skin from her right shoulder was hanging down near her wrist. Her husband, Justin, drove her to Jackson Hospital, Montgomery. From there she was taken by ambulance to the University of Alabama Hospital at Birmingham. “That’s really the last thing I remember,” says Crumpton West.
Crumpton West’s first major surgery—of more than 200—was January 4, 2012, at Arnold Luterman Regional Burn Center, a teaching hospital in Birmingham. Complications during that surgery caused her heart to stop beating while she was on the operating room table. While recovering in intensive care, her heart stopped again.
“They say I died three times,” Crumpton West says. “The doctors urged Justin to pull the plug, but he refused to give up on me.”
When Crumpton West woke up on Valentine’s Day 2012, the first thing she asked for was a Diet Pepsi. She says she was grateful to be alive, even when she learned the extent of the physical damage she had sustained. Because her burns were so severe and the drugs that were used to treat her had cut off the circulation to her extremities, physicians were forced to perform a right transradial and bilateral transfemoral amputations to save her life. “God hasn’t left my side,” says Crumpton West, who was right-handed and has been learning to write and cook with her left hand.
That day, after learning that her grandfather had given her a truck, her uncle flew into a drunken rage and threw the boiling water on Crumpton West, she says. She turned to her right to try to protect herself, sustaining third-degree burns over her right arm, chest, and legs, and second-degree burns on the left side of her face and left arm. The boiling water also landed on her middle son and her grandmother, slightly burning them.
Crumpton West says she didn’t think her injuries were that bad initially—though skin from her right shoulder was hanging down near her wrist. Her husband, Justin, drove her to Jackson Hospital, Montgomery. From there she was taken by ambulance to the University of Alabama Hospital at Birmingham. “That’s really the last thing I remember,” says Crumpton West.
Crumpton West’s first major surgery—of more than 200—was January 4, 2012, at Arnold Luterman Regional Burn Center, a teaching hospital in Birmingham. Complications during that surgery caused her heart to stop beating while she was on the operating room table. While recovering in intensive care, her heart stopped again.
“They say I died three times,” Crumpton West says. “The doctors urged Justin to pull the plug, but he refused to give up on me.”
When Crumpton West woke up on Valentine’s Day 2012, the first thing she asked for was a Diet Pepsi. She says she was grateful to be alive, even when she learned the extent of the physical damage she had sustained. Because her burns were so severe and the drugs that were used to treat her had cut off the circulation to her extremities, physicians were forced to perform a right transradial and bilateral transfemoral amputations to save her life. “God hasn’t left my side,” says Crumpton West, who was right-handed and has been learning to write and cook with her left hand.
Organizer and beneficiary
Jessie West
Organizer
Montgomery, AL
Jessica Crumpton West
Beneficiary
