Engulfed by 800 degree flames and having his naked body wrapped in glad wrap are vivid memories Graeme Hill will never forget. Nearly four years after receiving his life changing injuries he talks about what happened and what he still endures.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010 ended up being unlucky for two New Plymouth Senior Firefighters. Graeme Hill, 34, and his shift partner Sam Julian, 31, entered a Lepperton chicken shed to put out a fire when a flashover fire exploded engulfing them in flames.
Graeme was thrown to the ground by the blast gaining his first serious ‘on the job’ injuries from 19 years service. He received second and third degree burns to 20-30% of his body, requiring skin grafts on his bottom, back, legs, arms and hands. He spent three weeks in the burns unit at Waikato Hospital before spending a further 26 months recuperating. He was finally able to return to work on December 23, 2012.
“Sam is a very talented firefighter. His ability to work well under pressure proved to be a very handy asset that day,” says Graeme.
“He led the way to exit the building in nasty and extremely hot conditions.”
“It went from pitch black to daylight as we managed to pop out the other side of the wall. One second we were inside, the next we were out.”
As he removed his level 2 structure kit – jacket, helmet, breathing apparatus, etc, the seriousness of his injuries became apparent.
“I got a good view of my skin hanging off my fingers on both hands and down my arm. I sort of looked at all that and thought ‘oh this is a bit more serious than I thought.’
Graeme’s ever present humour kicks in and says ‘Everyone picks on a ginga – even fires do,’ as he bursts into laughter.
The men were rushed to New Plymouth Base Hospital. Sam Julian suffered burns to his bottom, back, shoulders and hands and spent 11 weeks recuperating at home before returning to work Christmas Eve 2010.
Graeme spent the night in Taranaki Base Hospital before being flown to the Waikato Burns Unit.
“I was pretty firm in my ideas once I got up to Hamilton. You have two choices in life you can just roll over and give up or you can stand up and fight. I decided standing up and fighting was the only way to go.”
This attitude had a huge impact on Graeme’s long recovery as he carried out his exercises to the letter, wore his burn suit nearly 24 hours a day and pushed himself to find other ways he could help his own recovery.
“No-one can help yourself more than you. You’ve got to do it yourself. People can encourage you to or even force you, but you’ve got to have that mind set in your head and focus on that final goal.”
“I can assure you, people wearing burns garments are doing life hard. At times it requires an immense amount of mental self-control to keep the pressure garment on. I had difficult days for sure, but I never failed and I never gave in. I prided myself on being a model patient. I was not prepared to lose.”
“After all why would you not wear this garment when instructed to. It’s a proven fact that they work, you will never be 100% again but why would you want to be any more ‘munted’ than what you currently are?”
Graeme’s wife Steph and daughter Mackenzie, now 11, have been by his side every day with Steph even moving into the Hospital to emotionally support and care for him.
“We only have one child and it was a mission to have her, I’ve never been back to work since. We’ve always all been really close as a family.”
“Graeme does shift work, we’re not like a normal couple, we do everything together, we’re just always together.”
Steph believes that Graeme’s ‘addiction’ to exercise and Sam’s high level of fitness saved their lives and has helped immensely with Graeme’s rapid recovery.
“Lucky he (Graeme) was so fit. They both wouldn’t have made it if they weren’t in that condition. They got out just in time as the hoses on their BA sets were starting to disintegrate.”
“Everything he has done he has done himself. He is the most diligent firefighter that you will ever meet.”
Graeme and Steph wish to thank the staff at Waikato Burns Unit for the care they received.
“The word excellent sums up the staff at Waikato Hospital. I vividly remember the head nurse having a meeting with me, otherwise known as a telling off, for expecting myself to recover at a rate which was impossible. She was great value. I needed that reality check,” said Graeme.
He was initially advised that he would spend six weeks in the Burns Unit only to leave in three due to his body’s ‘fast healing’ ability and the huge determination not to ruin his daughter’s birthday by being in Hospital.
One part of his stay he wasn’t happy with was a bacterial infection called pseudomonas known for its horrid smell and lime green appearance.
“I understand people with skin grafts are a great breeding ground for bacteria. It is the sort of infection if it gets into your internal organs the outcome is not very flash. They treated it, this is a fond memory of mine, with vinegar. It was watered down vinegar but the first time it wasn’t quite watered down enough and it was ‘WOA’. They pour vinegar all over it and it kills it off.”
“You knew when you had it as you could smell it. That was always very much a downer because I knew every time I got it that was putting me back a little bit.”
After three long weeks in Hamilton the Hill family came back home to New Plymouth. Steph played a major part in Graeme’s recovery as she moisturised his burns 3 or 4 times a day after each of his showers, changed dressings and helped with all his other needs.
“Going to the toilet we had to put a dressing on the toilet so he didn’t ‘stick’ to it as his butt wound wasn’t healing.”
“He would spend hours doing exercises with devices he labelled ‘torture devices’ to uncurl his fingers and stretch the skin. He was told ‘If you don’t get your fingers working now they will never work.’”
“The sun has become his enemy as his skin grafts are sensitive and burn easily. We go through heaps of sunblock all year round. He’s been issued with long-sleeved tops for work and thin long-sleeved shirts for home.”
The patchwork quilt like pattern on Graeme’s thighs tells the story of donor sites for his skin grafts on his roasted back, butt, arm and hand.
“That subject of my backside. It was quite severely damaged. It needed urgent grafting so that was the first area, just on one side more than the other. I do fondly remember that particular spot burning quite furiously.”
Because of the existence of the donor sites and skin grafts Graeme had to wear a burn suit nearly 24 hours a day removing it for the final time on December 7, 2012. This was a great milestone to have reached giving his skin grafts the best chance to ‘take’ to his existing skin.
“It eventually became such a way of life it was weird taking if off and leaving if off for the final time. Garments are usually required for 12 – 18 months. I wore mine for 25!
A pressure garment is worn to control scarring from the skin grafts. Its purpose is to aid the scar as it matures and prevents the thickening, buckling and nodular formations in the injured skin.
“The garment is made to fit the individual, requiring lots and lots of exact millimetre measurements. I wore it 7 days a week, 23 out of 24 hours a day. I only took it off to shower and moisturise. It had to be hand washed in warm water with mild soap and allowed to drip dry. It couldn’t be dried in direct sunlight or the drier. I had two suits to rotate through the wash but often had to wear a damp suit. It was damn chilly during winter months pulling on a damp suit.”
“Although my burns were approximately 20-30%, the garment covered 70% of my body to provide the pressure necessary for healing. Those covered parts of my body didn’t get to experience fresh air for nearly 95% of the day. That’s one sad body.”
“Heat and humidity made it more uncomfortable. My own body heat regulation was screwed up for a long time due to losing a quarter of my sweat glands. There was pain from the garment rubbing on the burns along with the suit digging in around the joints like my armpits, elbows, and groin.”
Steph recalls spending many hours scratching his back.
“Through the burn suit he kept saying ‘harder’. When the suit was gone I was nervous to scratch very hard in case I wrecked his new growing skin. It’s still very itchy for him.”
Graeme adds “The skin grafts caused nearly unbearable itchiness. After tolerating it for many months they finally gave me multiple steroid injections under general anaesthetic.”
With limited training options and his exercise addiction being neglected, Graeme decided the time was right to re-join Rampage Fitness West gym. Manager and Personal Trainer Mark Rutherford vividly remembers first meeting Graeme only 9 weeks after his accident.
“He arrived at the gym layered up in his long sleeved burn suit top, glove and bike pants.”
“Basically when he first came to me he couldn’t lift his arm above his shoulder and his fingers couldn’t straighten out. He stated ‘I want to get my range of movement back’.”
“Graeme works out for hours and talks just as much,” Mark says as he starts laughing. “He always has a story to tell. He is very, very stubborn and does exactly the workout that he was told to do. He never cuts the corner and even goes to the extreme of doing extra encouraging someone else.”
The gym quickly became Graeme’s second home as his determination to get his life back on track stepped up with his progress.
“Essentially we didn’t treat him any different to anyone else – because of his attitude. I would say ‘let me show you this and see if you can do it.’ He would try and then go ‘yes, I can do that. I’ll do that every day’.”
“Other times he would say ‘it felt like his skin was tearing, like the burns were tearing’. I would shout ‘STOP’. After checking him over to make sure everything was OK he would just say ‘it’s just stretching and pulling and pulling.’ He just kept working his way through that and I could see the pain etched on his face but he was just determined to finish the workout.”
It quickly became evident that Graeme’s gym time was mental exercising as well as physical.
“He is addicted to exercise more than anyone at the gym. He is here most days. He is addicted to it in the way that he needs his fix. Exercise is therapeutic for him. I have full admiration for him as it never crossed his mind to sit down and take it easy, chill out and let his body recover. He knows what he needs to do to help his recovery and he just gets on with it.”
“If I was in that same situation there is no way I would be that positive – I’m just sure of it. To be conscious going through all the accident and then being able to share his experience is just admirable. He’s just so determined. I think the gym was a bit of therapy for him as well. His gym family were there and they were talking to him and he was chatting away about normal day to day stuff.”
“The other thing I admire him for is wearing his burns suit. I remember him coming into the gym in the heat of summer and sweating like anything. You could see on his T shirt strips of sweat, literally lines, down his body where his body was sweating and the skin grafts weren’t.
“He was so diligent about wearing it. I just couldn’t believe that someone was working out in the heat in this shed with that on. It certainly didn’t slow him down – no way! He was just 100% motivated working hard to get better and back to work.”
“We’re lucky to have him – he’s just so lucky to be alive.”
Finally Graeme wants to send a very serious message to any burn patients.
“I’ve heard quite a few stories of people not wearing their pressure garments religiously and while I feel for them I also think they need to harden up. There is always someone else in this world doing the same thing 10,000+ times harder than they have it!! It’s a very important period in your recovery and you need to step up!!”
Photos: Graeme Hill a year after his accident.