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Update On Chris's Recovery
Day One (2/1/98)
On, Sunday, Feb. 1, my 17 year old nephew Chris Hawkins was blown up in a freak accident. Although the blast did severe damage to the building, Chris somehow survived although he lost most of his left hand and was cut up really bad. Chris worked in a dive shop filling scuba tanks. He was checking the pressure on a tank when it exploded. His face was severely ripped up, but the doctors were able to repair it. Normally, a doctor would simply re-attach a severed limb, but in Chris's case, there was nothing left to re-attach. One person who saw him said that it reminded him of when he was serving in the army on the battlefield. The blast was severe enough that it also shook the foundations of several nearby buildings. Chris is certainly lucky to be alive, but doctors say that it will be several weeks before Chris leaves the hospital. He was in several hours of surgery and placed in the Cardiac Care Unit due to all the blood he lost and the serious trauma.
Day Two (2/2/98)
Thanks to everybody for their prayers and warm thoughts. Chris appears to have gotten past the life threatening stage and is now in the recovering stage. He is still in a lot of pain despite his Morphine IV, but he seems a lot better today and was eating a little. He is aware about what happened to his hand, and for the moment, seems to be coping with it. He lost his thumb and index finger all the way down to his wrist. The doctors were able to save the remaining three fingers. Chris said today that he was glad that he didn't lose his whole arm. I would have to say that he seems to have a positive outlook about the whole thing which could probably be the result of all the prayers sent up for him. He is taking it far better than I would expect anyone to. I just hope that the same holds true when the bandages come off. Chris was an aspiring musician and played about five different instruments. The damage to his hand will surely, at the very least, cause him to have to relearn how to play the different instruments.
Day Three (2/3/98)
Today Chris had his eyes open a little more. There was initially a great concern that he had lost his eyes in the blast as well. Fortunately, the damage to his eyes was mostly superficial and appears to have been corrected by the plastic surgeon. When Chris came in through the emergency room, a piece of shrapnel had somehow embedded itself between his eyeball and his eye socket slicing right through the eyelid. Apparently very little damage was done to his eyeball. He was very fortunate in that respect. He doesn't complain about any vision problems at this time, but I'm sure that he will be more fully tested later on. His hearing will also probably be tested as some people who have been in similar blasts have lost their hearing. Chris said that he wasn't able to hear anything for a while after the blast.
Chris's general condition continues to improve. He was kicked out of the Cardiac Care wing and into a regular room. We hope to have him on his feet soon. His legs were not seriously injured in the blast so the only thing holding him back is general weakness. He is still in a great deal of pain, but still a lot less than previously. He is certainly a tough kid - both physically and mentally. I seriously doubt that I would have been able to do as well given the same set of circumstances.
Day Four (2/4/97)
Chris will be heading back to the operating room tomorrow for more surgery on his hand. Otherwise, he is about the same.
Day Five (2/5/98)
Chris had his operation on his hand and is doing about as good as can be expected.
Whether you call it prayer, good vibes, or sheer coincidence, Chris is doing remarkably well considering his injuries. On day one, the doctors said that he would be in the hospital for several weeks. Now they are saying that he might be able to come home this weekend. I personally call it prayer.
Day Six (2/6/98)
Chris is sitting up in a chair now. The explosion apparently severely weakened his muscles. Even though his legs were not seriously damaged, it will be a while before he is able to walk on his own. Fortunately, he seems to be in a lot less pain today and is requiring far less pain medicine.
Day Seven (2/7/98)
Chris is doing a lot better today. He has been able to walk a little on his own although he is still in a lot of pain. Even still, it is a lot less pain than he had when he first got there. The nurses removed his pain medication pump. This device administered sizable doses of pain medication at regular intervals. Today he is on heavy duty pain pills instead. The nurse said that the dose was sufficient to render a healthy person unconscious, but does not have that effect on people in severe pain.
Day Eight (2/8/98)
Today was exactly one week after the explosion. Chris was up walking around this evening. Considering what has happened to him, I would say that he has done remarkably well. He didn't get to go home yet, but that is expected tomorrow. His IV has now been disconnected temporarily although it must be reconnected for his antibiotics.
Day Nine (2/9/98)
HOME AT LAST! Chris was released from the hospital tonight. He will be recovering the rest of the way at home. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and warm feelings for Chris. His condition has improved considerably in a remarkably short time. I definitely think that all of the prayers that went up for him had something to do with it. But Chris is not out of the woods yet, he still faces many years of reconstructive surgeries on his hand. While asking everyone to continuously pray for Chris may be a bit much to ask, I would ask that you try to remember him every once in a while.
2/18/98
Chris is now 18 years old. With the exception of his hand, he has nearly fully recovered. He still has some facial scarring from the explosion, but we hope to have this removed later. So far, what's left of his hand seems to be healing nicely. It seems as though every day Chris is taking less and less narcotic pain killers. Even still, not having a thumb makes simple everyday tasks nearly impossible to accomplish. (Try opening a doorknob without your thumb, working a pair of scissors, or tying your shoes.) You would think that Chris would be complaining about all of these disadvantages, but he doesn't complain at all. Complaining just isn't his style.
3/21/98
Chris is still having trouble with his hand. The other day, he had trouble with one of the pins. These "pins" are actually fancy 16 penny nails that the doctor put in there with their heads sticking out. Fortunately, the pain is lessening to the point where he only needs a small handful of strong pain pills each day. He is lucky that these days there are non-narcotic pain killers that work just as well as their narcotic counterparts. Chris was taking narcotic pain pills when he first came home from the hospital, but he became immune to them after about two weeks and they no longer relieved the pain. With the non-narcotic pills, the pain is suppressed better and he doesn't have to worry about becoming immune to them.
8/20/99
It has been over a year since the last update. Chris has had several additional surgeries on his hand since then. He is coping with his disability remarkably well, although there are still many things that he cannot do with his left hand. Not all the bones healed right. Even if they had, a hand with no thumb is not nearly as usable as a hand with a thumb. A prosthetic thumb was made for Chris by a prosthetic company, but it either fell off or was too tight. The company really did an amateurish job. Consequently, Chris has to go bare handed all the time.
We looked into a hand transplant (from a cadaver) and actually made contact with the doctor who transplanted a new hand onto a man who had lost his, but the operation requires that the patient take anti-rejection drugs for the remainder of their lives. Such drugs tend to shorten one's lifespan as a result of suppressing the immune system. Therefore, such an operation is not feasible for Chris being that he is only 19 at the present.
Because Chris was still in high school at the time of the explosion, he was forced to drop out because he was unable to attend class. He has since passed his GED and has been attending college full time. Despite the constant distraction from the pain in his hand, he has been able to maintain decent grades.
For those of you who are curious, below is a diagram of what is left of Chris's hand. The brown color indicates the part of his hand that the Doctors were able to save. The red color indicates the part of his hand that was blown off during the blast and/or was injured too severely to save.
7/28/01
Chris eventually found that his hand distracted him too much to continue attending college full time. He came home and went to tech school where he eventually earned his MCSE certification for setting up and maintaining Microsoft Computer networks. He is currently seeking employment in that field in Palm Beach County, Florida. Meanwhile, on July 28, 2001, Chris married his girlfriend Natalie. Natalie has been Chris's girlfriend since before the explosion and has stuck with him all during his recuperation and recovery. The last time I checked, Mr. and Mrs. Chris Hawkins were doing fine. Below is a photograph taken at their wedding:
9/11/01
I, Chris's Uncle, get emails all the time from people asking how much Chris received in his settlement with Walker Kidde and Luxfer. The answer is ZERO. Although Chris did file lawsuits against these companies, their lawyers were too crafty and the companies were able to get away with what they did to Chris. Simply put, we have good reason to believe that Luxfer purchased Walter Kidde's scuba division and is therefore responsible for what happened to Chris. Proving that Luxfer is liable is another matter. Unless a Luxfer or Walter Kidde employee (or former employee) comes forward with the proof, Chris will never see a dime from these companies. Its actually a pretty sad fact considering that someone can go to McDonalds, spill coffee on themselves and be awarded millions of dollars for their own clumsiness, but someone like Chris gets absolutely nothing.
Since Chris is now home from the hospital, I have stopped the daily updates to this page for practical reasons. From now on, when I update this page I will also note the date of the update on the main page.
If you wan't to get a message to Chris, email me, Dennis Hawkins (Chris's Uncle) and I will forward your messages to Chris.
Again, THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THEIR SUPPORT!