It will be two years in April since Kevin Burney’s accident.
He suffered burns to 70 per cent of his body when a metal drum he was using a grinder on in his driveway exploded in flames on April 2 in 2022.
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He was rushed to Christchurch in a critical condition and airlifted to Middlemore Hospital in Auckland.
Burney, 62, has now regained movement in his left arm following surgery in August, which had been delayed since January last year.
“It has been really good. It has given me more freedom to do pretty much everything on that side now,” he said.
Despite the progress on the left side, he is still waiting for a final date for the same procedure on his right arm.
“It is probably not quite so bad, so hopefully that will recover even better,” said Burney. He is expecting the surgery to happen in the coming months.
Burney said he has had to train himself to be more ambidextrous.
Due to the surgery delays, he lost his printing job in Christchurch in July.
Now Burney is unsure if he will return to work or choose an early retirement.
“I lost my job through this process, my company was great, can’t complain about that.
“I can’t go back to the same work, because it was a very physical job . . . although I’m mentally fine, I think the physical side would let me down,” he said.
The first four weeks after the accident were spent in intensive care, where doctors said they had not seen burns as severe since those they treated from the deadly White Island eruption.
They did not know whether Burney would survive as he battled for his life. One of his lungs collapsed, he suffered an infection, and his heart stopped during surgery.
He spent eight weeks in the burns unit, undergoing several skin graft surgeries.
The surgeries were nine-hour marathons involving three surgeons, where skin was taken from unburned areas of his tummy and buttocks, to be grafted onto the burned areas of his torso, arms, hands, and the front and back of his thighs.
Burney said his lung and heart have recovered well.
“I was quite surprised the other day when I saw a photograph of myself from the first week in hospital and I didn’t realise how badly scared my face was, and you wouldn’t know that now.”
Burney, who loves the water, has been able to get back out in it with help.
“I’ve got a boat that I haven’t used for a couple of years now. But I’ve also got a couple of kayaks and the physio took me out one day and it was really liberating.”
Burney said while the recovery is progressing well there will be limitations to what he can do.
“As part of the trauma involved in the explosion my muscles and joints all tightened up . . . so that is going to be ongoing problem keeping those limbs moving.”
