July 14, 2009

Hello everyone. We thank you so very much for your prayers and well wishes. It means the world to us that so many of you care about Bill. We'd like to use this blog as a way to communicate in lieu of the many phone calls and to give updates of Bill's progress throughout this ordeal. PLEASE add comments to this post or any future posts (see Comments at bottom).

So, we'll start with the day of the accident... Bill, his grandson and a neighbor were attempting to start an old car. They had taken many precautions before they started such as keeping the car away from the house, fire extinguishers on hand and putting the gas container away from the car.

To help start the old car, Bill poured a small amount of gas from a cup into the carburetor. As he did this, a flashback occurred resulting in Bill being seriously burned. 911 was immediately called and the extinguisher was used to put out the flames. The ambulance arrived and transported him to Bridgeport hospital.

Bill was coherent, able to see and speaking when he arrived at the hospital around 6pm. The family was updated around 9pm with the news that 20-25% of his body was burned. He has second degree burns on his face, left arm and hand. He has third degree burns on his right arm and hand. His chest has both second and third degree burns. A breathing tube was put in because they did not know if he sustained any internal damage due to inhalation. He was heavily sedated and in a drug-induced coma.

Around 1:30am July 15, Bill was finally transferred from the ER to the Burn Unit - 4th floor, Room 4014 where he is in stable but critical condition.

If you visit Bill, please sign the white guest book in his room so the family and Bill will know you were there - thank you!