Ashton Samples was just 14 months old on April 12, 2010, the day he toddled out the door in just a shirt and diaper for some outdoor play time. His mom, Asaza York, hurried to follow her little boy – but not fast enough to stop him falling into a burned out hole where a tree stump had been – a stump York and her sister thought had been safely put out with water a couple of days ago.
But underneath the wet ashes, some hot embers still smoldered, so when Ashton fell, he screamed as the hot coals burned his hands, the bottom of his feet and portions of his legs to his thighs.
“I heard him scream and ran to him – it did not click with me that it was fire – he could not have laid there more than a couple of seconds,” she said. She picked him up and to her horror saw that the skin on his feet was literally melting before her eyes. “I was horrified and yelled to my mom to call 9-1-1,” she said. Since they live off the road, she decided to take Ashton in the car down their driveway to meet the ambulance. “He kept screaming and kicking, which was pulling more skin off,” she said.
Paramedics from Madison County EMS met them and took the child to Athens Regional, where from there he was taken to the Joseph M. Still pediatric burn unit in Augusta. “It was decided that he was not stable enough to fly there,” York remembers. “It was terrible, we went with lights and siren all the way.” Ashton underwent the first of many surgeries the next day. “That’s when I lost it, while he was in surgery,” she said. “It all hit me then.”
They came home four days later, only to return in a few days after the wounds on his feet became infected. “When he saw his brothers, he just wanted to chase after them,” York said, and though doctors told her he could walk if he felt like it, but the effort proved too much.
They traveled back and forth to Augusta as Ashton continued to battle infections and obtain the necessary skin grafts. These surgeries continue, as he must have new grafts as he grows.
But these days, you wouldn’t know the ordeal he’s been through, his mom says. “He’s a very normal, happy little boy,” she said. “He takes it all in stride.”
Their experience has made York want to do something to help other children and their families who find themselves at the pediatric burn center.
“They do good work there,” she said.
To that end, a burn benefit was held April 28 at Madison County Memorial Park in Danielsville in her little boy’s honor.
For more information, call York at 706-424-8485 or asamples82@yahoo.com5
