- Cristina left a crockpot full of meat to simmer on her mini fridge and warned her little ones to be careful around it and keep out of the kitchen
- But when little Lyle went to grab an icy pole from the fridge, he accidentally knocked over the crockpot
- The boiling stock hit Lyle’s skin, and he was left with second-degree burns
Here Cristina Ramirez, 26, tells her story in her own words.
Rubbing spices into the pork shoulder, I placed it into the slow cooker and closed the lid to cook.
It was April 2026 and just before my kids, Lilah, then eight, and Vincent, six, got home from school, I turned the slow cooker off to cool down ready for dinner. We kept the slow cooker on top of the mini fridge to keep the bench from being cluttered.
‘Kids, this pot is very hot. Don’t go anywhere near it,’ I warned them when they came in, and I warned my three-year-old boy, Lyle, too.
‘Kids, this pot is very hot. Don’t go anywhere near it.’
Then I popped into my bedroom where my partner, Brewer, 29, was playing with our son, Donovan, one, to change the baby’s nappy.
The other kids were out of my sight for just a few minutes when I heard a loud thump from the kitchen.
The blood-curdling scream that followed made my heart drop.
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As I ran towards the horrifying sound, Lyle appeared in the doorway to my room, his orange-coloured shirt drenched and clinging to his little body, his face and neck bright red. ‘Oh my God!’ I screamed, realising he’d been badly burned.
As I peeled off his shirt, the skin on his chest, right shoulder and face was melting off, while steam rose from his body.
Gently picking up Lyle, I placed him on my hip and ran to the kitchen.
Seeing the slow cooker on the floor, along with the boiling hot liquid and meat, I felt sick.
Lilah, who was standing at the kitchen door, terrified, told me Lyle had been reaching for an ice cream from the main freezer, which was right next to the mini fridge.
‘When he closed the door, it shook the mini fridge and the crockpot fell,’ Lilah explained.
‘Mummy’s got you.’
I shuddered as the image of what had happened next played in my mind.
As my boy screamed inconsolably from the pain, my heart broke into a million pieces.
‘Mummy’s got you,’ I soothed, as Brewer applied burn cream to Lyle’s raw skin.
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Though I tried to stay calm for my boy, on the inside I was panicking.
‘We have to get him to hospital immediately,’ I said to Brewer.
While I made sure Lyle was wrapped in a wet towel, Brewer gathered the other kids in our seven-seater van.
Placing Lyle gently in the back, we drove to the hospital 15 minutes away.
‘Your brother will be okay, the doctors will take care of him,’ I consoled a worried Lilah and Vincent.
‘Your brother will be okay, the doctors will take care of him.’
Lyle was rushed into emergency, while Brewer stayed with the other kids in the waiting room.
Doctors gave Lyle pain relief and dressed him in special wound bandages, but as they weren’t properly equipped to treat his injuries, he was airlifted, along with Brewer, to a specialised burn centre.
‘I’ll see you soon,’ I promised Lyle, before driving the other kids home, where my mum, Rebecca, and sister, Becky, were waiting.
Packing an overnight bag, I then drove two hours to be with Lyle.
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By the time I arrived, my boy had already had his burns redressed and been given pain medication. Now he was fast asleep.
‘Lyle will need a skin graft to recover,’ the doctor advised, revealing our boy had suffered second degree burns.
‘It’s all my fault,’ I sobbed, racked with guilt.
‘You would’ve never known something like this could happen,’ Brewer consoled me.
‘Lyle will need a skin graft to recover.’
The next morning Lyle was taken into the operating room, where surgeons grafted donor skin to his chest and back. Stem cell therapy was used to help his face heal.
When he woke two hours later, I rushed to hold his hand. ‘I’m here buddy, you’re okay,’ I smiled, fighting back tears.
Five days later, Lyle was allowed home to continue healing. His siblings were overjoyed to see him, carefully giving him a hug.
The first week was tough as Lyle’s wounds were itchy.
To prevent him from scratching, we covered his hands with socks.
He also had trouble sleeping due to the pain.
During an appointment in May, doctors noticed the donor skin on Lyle’s chest wasn’t healing as expected, so a graft was taken from his thigh and placed over his chest and neck where the burns were the most severe.
Thankfully, the procedure was a success, and we were sent home a week later.
Two months on from the nightmare ordeal, Lyle’s wounds are healing nicely, but he remains wary of large pots, so I’ve resorted to using smaller ones to avoid frightening him.
Outside of mealtimes, he’s back to his bubbly self, playing with his siblings and enjoying watching cartoons.
His resilience inspires us every day.
I hope Lyle’s story serves as a warning to other parents and caregivers to always keep hot cookware out of reach of little hands.
Even if you think it’s safely stored, accidents can and do so easily and quickly happen.
To help, search ‘Lyle Roger’s Burn Recovery’ on GoFundMe
Scalds advice:
- Cool skin under a tap for 20 mins.
- Do not use ice, butter or creams.
- Remove loose clothes.
Call 000 (AU) or 111 (NZ) for serious or facial burns.
