UMC treatment center honors child burn survivors with holiday celebration

He was only 3 years old when it happened, but Danber Buckland easily recalls the day when his childhood was interrupted by an awful scalding accident.

“I was eating peanut butter and I slipped and got hot water all over me,” said Danber, now 12, “It got me everywhere, my hair, my legs.”

Now all he carries from it is scar tissue in an armpit. “It’s not that big a deal,” he said. “I thought that people are going to think I’m weird. But as I got older, I felt more comfortable about it.”

The Knudson Middle School student stood inside the North Las Vegas Fire Station 52 where he was among those attending the Lil’ Roar event Saturday to celebrate kids who have survived burn injuries and their family members whose lives are also affected.

The UMC Lions Burn Care Center hosted the event in partnership with the Firefighters of Southern Nevada Burn Foundation and the North Las Vegas Fire Department.

Dozens of children and family members milled around the rear of the fire station, amid bean bag toss games, a teddy bear clinic, Santa and Mrs. Claus next to a table full of wrapped presents, and costumed Marvel characters including the treelike Groot from the movie “Guardians of the Galaxy” posing for snapshots.

The Christmas presents were donated by the Firefighters of Southern Nevada Burn Foundation.

Yasmin Conaway, manager of the burn care center at UMC, said that the kids at the gathering had received treatment for some kind of burn injury, with the most common injury resulting from hot water scalding.

Toddlers just learning how to walk also tend to suffer from burns to their feet after walking on surfaces baked to a high of 170 degrees Fahrenheit during Las Vegas’ infamous summers, Conaway said.

The holiday party gives youths with burn injuries time to provide valuable emotional support to each other, she said.

“We want kids to know they are not alone, that others have gone through the same thing,” she said.

About 1,100 people were treated at UMC’s burn center in 2021, mostly on an outpatient basis, Conaway said

The center, which got started in 1968, is an important regional hub for burn casualties. Its reach covers 18,000 square miles, and victims from Southern Utah and parts of Arizona and California are sent by helicopter for treatment there, Conaway said.

Mia Keeles, 15, a Clark High School student, is recovering from burns to her neck when alcohol she used to clean jewelry ignited when she was 14. But you wouldn’t know if it bothered her because she smiled the entire time she recounted the injury.

“It was really sad,” she said as her parents stood nearby. “It was a hard time for everyone. At first I didn’t go out. But nothing really changes.”

Danber said that UMC’s burn center has inspired him to consider a career as a child life specialist, who counsels and supports children recovering from burns, a role in which he has already served for fellow victims.

“It’s all going to work out in the end,” Danber said he tells them. “Don’t let what others say affect you.”

Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on Twitter.