Chip pan fire horror leaves 15-year-old boy in intensive care

A teenager has been left unable to walk after suffering horrific burns in a splinter fire.

Michael Steyert, 15, suffered first, second and third degree burns after oil from a pan of burning chips landed on the back of his bare feet. He was rushed to the hospital and later admitted to the intensive care unit because his injuries were so severe.

Mum Kim, 35, feared her son “won’t make it”. The burns were so bad. Michael had no skin tissue left and had to undergo surgery to attach artificial tissue to his legs so he could have a skin graft.

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Kim, who learned of the horrific injury on FaceTime, said: “I can’t even begin to describe the millions of thoughts that went through my head when the call ended. My daughter and I were at home when it happened.

“I found out on a video call from my sister who was absolutely crying her eyes out and didn’t make a lot of sense. I spoke to Michael briefly while the paramedics were with him.

“He was laughing and joking and trying to make sure everyone else was OK. But he was white as a sheet and shaking uncontrollably with shock.”

Michael was staying with his family in Sheffield when the crisp pan suddenly caught fire. The teenager ran out of the house just before someone brought out the “flaming pan of oil”, which splashed directly on the backs of his legs.

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Kim said: “When the pan caught fire, one of the adults present shouted for everyone to get out of the house and tried to put it out with a wet towel several times. When that didn’t work, he picked up the pan of chips with his bare hands and ran out the back door to throw it into the garden.

“When the adult started yelling for everyone to get out, Michael was in the dining room where the back door was, so he went through there. The adult ran to the door and threw the pan of oil into the flames.

“It bounced off one of the garden bins and splashed straight across the back of Michael’s bare legs from mid-thigh to foot.”

When Michael was at the hospital, he was going to clean up the damaged tissue when the skin suddenly started to peel off in huge strips. He went into shock and had to stay in the intensive care unit as Kim began to fear the worst.

Kim said: “He went into shock several times and was found to have two infections. We spent the next three days in the ICU, those days were hell.

“Watching my baby deteriorate and the nurses trying desperately to stabilize him, only to repeat the whole process over and over again, was a nightmare. There was a time when I wasn’t sure he was going to make it.

“Every time he started to get better, he’d have another withdrawal and get worse.”

Michael has now been discharged from hospital and has been able to return to his home in Cleethorpes. But Kim says that while he is “much happier”, he still can’t stand for more than a few seconds and won’t be able to return to school for the next two months.

The mum-of-three said: “Although he’s a lot happier since we’ve been home, he obviously can’t go anywhere or do anything really.

“He is now able to walk very short distances but not properly because his joints have been grafted recently and it is very painful for him. He cannot stand still for more than a few seconds because the pain becomes unbearable, so he has to constantly shift from one leg to the other when standing.

“He still struggles to go to the kitchen and the bathroom and then has to sit on chairs while doing everything and is very wobbly when he walks. It will be months before he can go back to school.”

Kim says she had to spend about a month living with her family in Sheffield, which took a huge financial toll on her. She has now set up a GoFundMe page to support her and her family as she also has to spend around £30 a day on high calorie food to help with Michael’s recovery.

Kim said: “In terms of the financial impact, obviously this was completely unexpected. I had to buy Mike lots of high protein and high calorie foods to help him recover and lots of drinks as he was constantly losing fluids.

“It cost around £30 a day just to cover Michael’s meals, drinks and snacks as it was all pre-prepared chicken and lots of it. He’s a big boy so it takes a lot of food to try and breed him.

“I had to borrow money from all my relatives to provide him with what he needed throughout his stay, as well as to use the bill money. But his stay kept getting longer so I had to find more money and everything was adding up late fees etc.” Visit the fundraiser here to support the family.

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