By Derek Schlennstedt
After James Lake was burned while camping in Gembrook in January 2018, he was flown to the Alfred Hospital.
He spent two weeks in the burns unit where he had five skin grafts and three surgeries to address the ‘full depth’ burns on his hands and legs.
For over two weeks Mr Lake, a recent father was unable to hold his newborn son.
Mr Lake’s story is just of many and it recounts the amazing care given to patients at The Alfred Hospital.
Speaking to the Mail he described the traumatic experience and how the staff at The Alfred helped him get back to his family.
“I was sitting on a camping chair away from the stove and unfortunately when it was being re-fuelled with methylated spirits the metho itself ignited and a fireball came in my direction,” he said.
“It erupted very quickly and went from my ankles to the top of my groin within a second.”
“As I was trying to pat the fire out my hands caught on fire.”
“’Stop, drop and rol’l kicked in straight away, but with a fuel fire rolling on the ground doesn’t do anything.”
Mr Lake sustained burns to 15 percent of his body.
Surgeons described them as full depth burns.
While recovering in hospital was difficult Mr Lake said the most challenging part was not being able to help his new family.
“My son was only six weeks old at the time.”
“It was a bit hard at first because I couldn’t walk or move and also had my hands bandaged.”
“The most I could do was have my son on my lap, and i couldn’t do any fatherly duties; my wife had to do everything.”
“Having my son there every day made it a lot easier to recover and made it easier to look forward to something when I could get out.”
This September Mr Lake will experience his first father’s day and although he said that nothing was planned, he is grateful to the staff at the Alfred Hospital who helped him get back to his family.
This Father’s Day Mr Lake and other fathers who have the Alfred Hospital to thank for their health are urging people to donate to this years’ The Alfred Father’s Day Appeal, which shines a spotlight on men’s health.
From 6am to midnight on Friday 31 August, The Alfred Hospital will hold a special Father’s Day Appeal – Give 4 Dads – with the aim of raising $800,000 to purchase new, state-of-the-art equipment.
During the event, every single will be multiplied by 4 with the pledged gifts of generous supporters of The Alfred.
