According to the American Burn Association, there are more than 1 million burn injuries each year.
As of the early 1990s, the rate of reportable burn
injuries in the United States had declined from about 10 in 10,000 to
4.2 in 10,000. There are 500 fire and burn deaths per year. This total
includes about 3,750 deaths from fires and 750 from motor vehicle and
aircraft crashes, contact with electricity, chemicals or hot liquids
and substances, and other sources of burn injury.
Dr. Mark McDonough is a plastic surgeon in Orlando. He treats many burn survivors -- both physically and emotionally.
McDonough, himself, is a burn survivor. In the summer
before his 17th birthday, Mark returned home late from his job. He
immediately went to bed and was awakened within the hour by intense
heat.
“I could hear the sound of the flames, the crackling
of the wood, the smell of the smoke, and see the light. The heat was
just the most memorable thing. If you can imagine standing inside the
oven on Thanksgiving Day and basting the turkey, climbing in there and
closing the door … it felt that hot,” McDonough said.
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Burn experience
Dr. Mark McDonough combines his personal experience and medical expertise to make a difference in the lives of burn survivors.
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He remembers the day well. His mother and his youngest brother, Toby,
did not survive. Three other brothers did make it out alive. His father
was away on a business trip at the time. He tried to rescue his mother
and youngest brother, but the heat and the smoke were overwhelming. A
fireman found him passed out by the back door of his house. He was
burned over 60 percent of his body.
“My arms and hands were burned circumferentially from
my fingertips to my shoulders. The whole front of my chest and half the
side of my back, a lot of scattered areas of my hips, legs [were also
burned],” he said.
That night set McDonough on a course he never
anticipated. He entered the field of medicine and practiced physical
rehabilitation for eight years. He then went to medical school at age
30 and graduated with a medical degree in plastic surgery. He now
combines his personal experience and medical expertise to make a
difference in the lives of burn survivors.
“When I meet someone who is discouraged about what’s
happened to them, just by sharing my experience, they get a little bit
more help, they feel so grateful … it’s very rewarding. They give me
strength. They are so grateful, I can see it in their eyes, and I say,
‘That’s why I do it,’” he said.
McDonough has a unique perspective as a doctor and burn survivor himself.
“Somewhere early on in my recovery, I understood that
who I am isn’t my outside appearance. It really isn’t and I know it
sounds like a cliché, but who we are is what’s inside and not what we
present outside,” he said.
He offers this advice to those who have endured a
burn: “I tried early on to take something from my experience. My advice
would be to try to project who you really want to be and be committed
to giving something back to this big ball of dirt we all live on. In
doing that, the light you project will be one, not of ugliness,
but of beauty. I don’t know if I do that, but I pray that I do, and I
ask God to give me strength to do that.”
