Supplied - Kerrie Hall
A toddler was left with burns to 12 per cent of his body on a family camping trip.
Kerrie and Mick Hall were traveling with their four children, including one-year-old Hunter, in a caravan on their way to Tasmania when the incident occurred.
Kerrie was just about to go and get milk to make cups of tea when she heard Hunter’s terrified scream.
‘Hunter was sopping wet. He was clawing at his shirt, trying to rip it off,’ Kerrie told that’s life!
‘The steaming kettle was lying next to him.’
The devastated mum quickly realised that her little boy, who had just learned to walk, had pulled himself up using the oven door, and the force had caused the kettle to topple over.
Racing him to hospital, doctors kept Hunter in water for three hours before bandaging him. But then blisters started appearing on Hunter’s face.
‘Hunters face had looked unscathed, but he’d been cooking from within,’ Kerrie said.
‘The dead skin had to be scraped off with a surgical scour. Usually such a happy baby, my heart shattered as he shrieked in pain.’
After a month in hospital, Hunter was able to go home.
While Kerrie and Mick were terrified about taking him back in the caravan, they safeguarded it against similar incidents and eventually decided to set off again.
Now, Hunter is thriving and is back to being a happy baby, but he’ll need yearly surgery to stretch his skin as he grows.
The family has suffered terrible backlash since deciding to share their story, with cruel strangers saying they should have been watching Hunter more closely.
‘We felt exactly the same,’ Kerrie said. ‘But I’ve had to acknowledge that we’re only human and accidents happen.’
‘I want to share our story because I never want this to happen to another child.
‘Now all we can do is move on, And with each step my brave bub takes, we’re moving in the right direction.’
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