An 82-year-old woman is in the hospital after suffering third-degree burns. She fell asleep beside a pool in Arizona. The senior suffered horrific burns as a result.
"The whole front of her body, all the way down to basically the muscle and the bone, is burned," Michelle Gabbert told Arizona's Family.
Her mother, Betty-Lou Summer, suffered horrific burns. She apparently fell asleep in a metal chair at a community pool in San Tan Valley on June 11. Now, she's in critical condition. She reportedly only fell asleep for about an hour. But the sun in Arizona caused both a heat stroke and third-degree burns on the woman's body.
"I'm glad they went to go check on her because she would have died otherwise at the pool," Gabbert told KSAZ. "Her core body temperature was over 104."
82-Year-Old Suffers Burns
Beyond burns, she also suffered kidney and liver damage. Gabbert thought her mom might die from her burns, but it appears she may pull through.
"We did not believe she would pull through," wrote Gabbert in the initial post, "but anyone who knows my mom knows she is a tough old bird and will not go down without a fight."
In an update, the family wrote, "Betty-Lou underwent an additional 2-1/2 hour surgical debridement at the burn hospital today with the placement of 3 wound vacuums for the most severe burns. Her injuries are much worse than originally thought and she has several 3rd degree burns that required removal of skin and tissue down to the muscle. She will require additional surgery in 4-6 days, then will require skin grafting surgery. We expect her to be in the burn ICU for an extended period of time. Her legs got the worst of it and she is bandaged extensively on both legs."
Fortunately, she "is now off the ventilator and is no longer on dialysis! Her labs are now normal and her kidney/liver function has recovered."
