Chicago boy who suffered third-degree burns in fire that killed his grandmother still recovering
CHICAGO - It’s been two months since a deadly house fire left a 7-year-old with third-degree burns to his arms and hands.
Now, he’s recovering at home – thanks to a special "spray-on skin" treatment.
Brayden Findley and his mother Melissa Compean escaped the house fire in November. His grandmother Susan Collopy died on the first floor.
Findley suffered severe injuries and his mother says 18-percent of his body was burned while escaping.
Compean woke up first in the family’s Southwest Side home, once her dogs started barking.
"It was a lamp that had just scheduled to turn on, and it turned on and started a fire," said Compean.
Melissa couldn't get to her son, so she ran outside to the front of the house.
"My thought was to break the window and have him climb out, but when I broke the window, he was unresponsive," said Compean, who then jumped in and ran through the thick cloud of smoke. "When I grabbed his arm to get him to get out of the window. I just felt wetness."
Findley had passed out from the smoke, and had suffered third-degree burns – mostly on his arms and hands.
A good Samaritan and Melissa’s stepfather helped pull him to safety, and they were all rushed to area hospitals.
After the doctors at Loyola University Medical Center made sure the boy could breathe, Dr. Joshua Carson was called in to work on his burns.
"In Brayden's case, his burn was a little deeper, so he didn't really have any skin or much of any skin left over his hands," said Dr. Joshua Carson, the Burn Center Director at Loyola University Medical Center.
Instead of a traditional skin graft to cover the boy’s burns, Dr. Carson used "Autologous Stem Cell Suspension" or "Recell" – which is essentially a spray on skin treatment.
"Rather than take the whole sheet, you take little small piece and put it in a special enzyme formula and that gets the cells to stop sticking to each other," explained Dr. Carson.
Then, he says, you mix the cells in a saltwater solution and spray it onto the surface of the burn.
With Findley, Dr. Carson took a small skin graft from his leg, poked holes in it and stretched it to cover his arms. Then, he sprayed the skin cells on top.
So far, Carson is happy with Findely’s progress.
"They are really tough and learn how tough they are and resilient they are from this experience, and they come out of it with a lot of insight," said Dr. Carson about younger patients. "I think he's going to do fantastic."
It’s been two months of a new home and a new life for the 7-year-old, who’s getting used to at-home learning due to risk of infection and sometimes during class, wishing he was back at Loyola. Starting over hasn't been easy, but the community continues to lend a hand, a GoFundMe for the family has already raised nearly $15,000.
"I feel like we made it this far, I feel like we will be okay," said Compean. "We made it out, so I think we were meant to live and be strong."