Burn victim returns with a smile from Shriners Hospital

kent flowers jr

Nine year old Kent Flowers Junior suffered severe burns when a gas pump caught fire as his dad worked on a vehicle. Kent Junior grabbed a container to try to out the fire, but it contained fuel, which spilled on him. He was flown to Shriners Hospital in Galveston, Texas for urgent treatment sponsored by the Burn Victim Mercy Fund. Kent Junior is back in Belize and News Five’s Delahnie Bain was at the PGIA when the active and excited boy saw the rest of his family for the first time since he left.

Delahnie Bain, Reporting

After seven and a half months of specialized care for burns to eighty-five percent of his body,  Kent Flowers Junior returned home today from Shriners Hospital for children in Texas. It was an emotional reunion at the Philip Goldson International Airport after he and his mother arrived.

Delahnie Bain

“What was it like when you were in the states?”

Kent Flowers Jr., Burn Victim

“Good. Good.”

Delahnie Bain

“How did you feel being away from home for so long?”

Kent Flowers Jr.

“Bad.”

Delahnie Bain

“What’s the first thing you want to do now that you’re home?”

Kent flowers Jr.

“Exercise.”

Amalia Flowers, Mother of Burn Victim

“I feel so glad fi have my kids again. I appreciate every people weh help me with donations and thing. I appreciate it and I’m glad for that.”

Kent Flowers Sr., Father of Burn Victim

kent flowers sr

“Well I’m kind of excited knowing he went so long for a long time and now he’s back with his family. So I’m very happy.”

It was a difficult time for the entire family and there were times when both parents were on the verge of losing hope.

Amalia Flowers

“He mi have wa tray for breathing and problem with his heart and his lungs so he went through lot of stuff. He died like two times then they bring him back like one hour and a half later. The next time he died they bring him back in half an hour. So it was really hard.”

Delahnie Bain

“How did you deal with all of that?”

amalia flowers

Amalia Flowers

“Well, I have to stand it and ask God to help me and I have people support me and thing like that so I went through it.”

Kent Flowers Sr.

“He was doing good. I mean the kind of burns he get, first I thought he would make it you know cause people with that kind of burns, it’s hard for them and it’s kind of a miracle he’s alive. And I want to thank God for that.”

Kent Senior is also grateful for the help they received locally. And while he is back home and in good spirits, Amalia says Kent Junior still has a long road to recovery ahead of him.

Amalia Flowers

“He have to go back to Shriners until he complete twenty-one years so he have to travel until twenty-one years every six months. So I’m thinking about it because he need the surgeries because he have to do from his foot cause the foot is twisted so he has to go back for surgeries.”

Kent Flowers Sr.

“I want to say thanks a million to Miss Yvette Burks. I don’t know what I would do without her. I want to thank all the Belizean people from the Rio Hondo to the Sarstoon. Everybody really help me a lot and help my family so I want to thank them all. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank them.”

For the return trip, Continental airlines provided Kent Junior’s ticket while the mother’s trip was paid for by Yvette Burks of the Burn Victim Mercy Fund. Delahnie Bain for News Five.

Kent’s parents are now working on getting him back in school.