
Severely burned man needs help with day to day expenses.
Donation protected
NB: Somewhat graphic photos at the bottom of page: reader discretion is advised...
In 2011 I was grievously burned in a housefire.
I went into the house (not mine) looking for my 4-1/2 year old son. It seemed there was no one home but by a long and pretty sad story (omitted) it was possible that he was there alone. It was a 160 yr. old wood frame farmhouse and I would have never believed a house could go up so quickly. Another long story left out, I got trapped in the house and was grievously burned. My parents were alive at the time and the surgeons told them they didn't know if I would survive. 11 months in Canada's premier burn unit in Sunnybrook Hospital--the doctors there told me had I been in lesser facilities in the world, "You would have died." Another 10 months at St. John's Rehab Hospital.
I didn't get any money from insurance because everyone knows that a burning house is dangerous, and in choosing to go in I assumed all responsibility for my actions: most would agree it's not fair, but I couldn't find a lawyer to even touch it (insurance companies don't pay out because they feel bad for you).
I now require 3 PSW visits daily to keep me going: I can't dress/undress myself, bathe/shower myself, can't get on/off a toilet myself, diapers are required because I had a catheter in for so long my bladder never learned to close up tight again, can't wipe my own butt and if I can't hold it until my next PSW visit then I have to crap myself and stay that way until someone changes me. PSWs get me up and dressed and into my electric wheelchair in the morning, and that is where I stay until my afternoon diaper change--guess how humiliating that is--and then back into my wheelchair until bedtime when I am put to bed, and there I remain until someone gets me up.
One bright side, given the realities, is that once I am in my wheelchair I can go anywhere: I only require a little wrist action to manipulate my wheelchair, and I go out everyday.
I am now 67 now and live on a govt. stipend: I am grateful for what I get but still, it isn't much.
So I panhandle every day for extra money--which is probably how the reader found this page. It's cheesy, but I do what I have to do to get by...
Here is a photo of me taken in June 2011, 3 months before the fire:
All the following photos were taken in 2019, 8 years after the fire--imagine what I looked like 13 years ago! I was literally burned black in places--80% 3rd and 4th degree burns. The grafts and scars don't look as bad today because as time goes by they fade lighter and lighter, but I have recovered as far as I am ever going to--and I recovered further than anyone believed I would!
So after all that, actually I am doing quite well: I mean, my mental/emotional health is pretty good now--I did my crying for a couple years but life goes on: I'm just poor.
Donations well appreciated, I assure you... .
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Above: right thigh, inside | Below, right thigh outside
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Above: right leg inside | Below: right leg outside
Organizer

BBQd Jack
Organizer
East York, ON