GALVESTON, Texas – Grey Richter from Needville was burned as a baby during a family campfire. The campfire wasn’t completely out when he toppled into it and burned his hands.
It was traumatic for the family but it’s a common summertime occurrence, according to Shriners Children’s Texas in Galveston.
“When I was two, I tripped and fell into a campfire,” Grey Richter explained. “Second, third degree burns on both of my hands. My right one went all the way up to my elbow.”
“We were out camping and we had just finished making s’mores and the coals were there resting and Grey and his cousins, they were, you know, being typical two-year-olds playing, running around,” recalled his mother, Mandi Richter, “Grey tripped and he fell on the hot coals. My brother-in-law pulled him out as fast as he could. I’m sitting there, you know, as a mom, I’m crying, screaming like, oh my gosh!”
The closest hospital to their campground was an hour away. But worse, once they arrived, they learned the small hospital wasn’t equipped to handle to severe burns like Grey had.
So instead, the Richters made the trip from Waller to Shriners Children’s Texas in Galveston for the burn care he needed.
Even 10 years later, Grey still makes visits to Galveston for yearly operations.
“We do have surgeries yearly... they say he won’t stop having surgeries until he stops growing. So, if he needs another skin graft, they have his skin here to use it,” Mandi Richter said.
Thanks to the hospital’s in-house skin lab, they keep a sample of Grey’s skin and have grown it over the years. Therefore, if he needs another graft during his rapidly growing years, there’s one ready and available to him, waiting in the lab.
“If it’s third-degree, that means it’s not going to heal. So, you’ll need skin grafting,” explained Shriners Children’s Texas burn surgeon Dr. Jong Lee. “Whether it heals naturally, using skin grafting, you’re going to have contractures because your body, that’s how your body heals by contracting. So, when you have contractures and you get limited, hand functions you may need some plastic surgery to make your hand function better.”
Common summertime burns treated at Shriners Childrens Texas:
- Campfires
- Cooking (often while parents are at work and children are home)
- Severe sunburns
- Coals buried in the sand
“People do a grilling and then they put charcoals and embers on the sand and kind of cover it up, but it may not have been completely cooled, and kids run around, and they step, and we’ve seen kids getting burned from that,” said Dr. Lee.
Dr. Lee’s message to parents is to be aware of these burns that happen during the summer and consider wearing shoes while running around on the beach or campgrounds.
“It’s something we don’t forget,” said Mandi Richter. “We take the extra precautions.”
But ten years later, after a dozen operations, the Richters are still beyond grateful for the care they’ve received.
“They truly are remarkable,” Mandi Richter said. “I thought Grey was going to lose his hands. But, you know, here we are ten years later and, you know, it’s amazing.”
As a reminder, families don’t receive a bill from Shriners Children’s. The care they provide for burn and orthopedic patients is free with the help of generous donors and Shriners International.