Baby Zela Still Critical At K.H.M.H

Zela Usher

Eighteen-month-old Zela Usher remains in a critical condition at the K.H.M.H. after receiving severe burns to fifty percent of her little body on Tuesday evening. Baby Zela was at home in Punta Gorda when a fire broke. The cause of the fire is believed to be electrical. The child was rushed to the Punta Gorda Community Hospital and subsequently to the K.H.M.H. She received severe burns to the face and is expected to be flown out of the county sometime Friday. Through the help of the Burn Victims Mercy Fund, baby Zela will receive further treatment in Texas. Her mother, Aaronie Gamboa, explained what happened.

Aaronie Gamboa, Mother of Zela Usher

Aaronie Gamboa

“We were at home me and my two daughters, one is five and the next one is a baby. They were playing and I went in the kitchen. As I went in the kitchen, like one minute after that I just heard a scream. I ran into the back room and when I ran into the back room I saw a lot of fire. She was sitting there on a sponge and the outlet on the wall had, I think, caught on fire and the sponge was on the wall. She just sat there. She didn’t move. She was just in the fire so I had to open the sponge and haul her out. That is how I got burnt because I had to save her from the fire. I just ran outside and my neighbour rushed us to the hospital.”

Reporter

“Did she put something in the outlet? Do you know?”

Aaronie Gamboa

“No, no. They say the house had a shortage. I don’t think my oldest daughter put it in there because when I went back I didn’t find anything on the floor that she pushed anything in there.”