A 19-month-old boy suffered 94 percent burns after he climbed into a scalding hot bath.
But the brave toddler managed to endure 50 surgeries and his mother says the procedures don’t stop her son from smiling.
Jessica-Leigh Cox is now warning other parents to always check their water temperature after her son Jenson Smith suffered burns so severe his skin ‘dropped to the floor.’
Jessica and her partner Jason Smith rushed to the bathroom when they heard a loud splash. But despite immediately pulling their child out of the hot water, most of his skin already slipped off.
Little Jenson was airlifted to Birmingham Children’s Hospital where doctors had to remove half of his bowel as it had died from ‘shock’.
The heartbroken mother said doctors “didn’t think he was going to make it” as Jenson was given only a 3 percent chance of survival.
“At that point – when half of his bowel had died – they didn’t know why or how – but they didn’t think he was going to make it – he was given a 3% chance of survival,” Jessica said.
“They went ahead with the stoma and kind of said ‘he’s got 48 hours, if his bowel turns pink and comes back to life, he’s not out of the woods he’s still critical, but it’s a good sign and we’ve got something to work with’.
“But they said if it stays black ‘that’s it’ and they were literally the words that we were given – ‘that’s it’.”
The brave boy spent six months in the hospital and underwent 50 surgeries, including skin grafts.
Jessica said that her son ‘always got a smile on his face’ despite the grueling operations he had to go through.
“I know lots of other parents who have their water temperature at home set to 70 degrees, and my main message is, ‘can you please go home and turn it right down?’” Jessica said. “I would rather have a cold shower or a cold bath than ever have to go through anything like this again.”
“I didn’t know water could do that to a person – when he was in hospital his little toes and the ends of his fingers were black like he’d been burnt in a fire,” she continued.
“I’ve still got friends who couldn’t believe that it had happened with water.”
Jessica added: “I’m now in touch with parents that have had accidents and actually had the same trauma to the bowel, which I didn’t really expect.
“Even if in a few years time Jenson’s bowel is absolutely fine and his skin was all healed – touch wood, I’d absolutely love it – I’d still want to help other people, because I know what this experience has done to us as a family, and to Jenson.”
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