2 teens burned in bonfire explosion reunited with medical responders
Two teenagers burned in a bonfire explosion near Henderson nearly a year ago were among people recovering from unthinkable injuries who were reunited Friday with those who helped save their lives.
Kaycee Nitta, Natalie Weckesser and five of their Basic High School classmates were hurt June 9, near an abandoned building on Bureau of Land Management land in the far southeast valley, when they gathered to celebrate graduation.
Nitta and Weckesser, now both 17, were saved by Clark County’s network of emergency responders, doctors, nurses, therapists and support services personnel who are at the ready around the clock when tragedy strikes.
They gathered at the UMC Trauma Survivor’s Celebration at Caesars Palace. It was the 25th anniversary of the event, an annual tribute to the lives saved in the hospital’s level 1 trauma center.
Most of the survivors had spotty memories, or no memories at all, of suffering their injuries. Some still have steps remaining on their paths back to optimum health. All struggled to put into words the gratitude they have for those they never will be able to repay. Patients and medical professionals alike called each other heroes.
“I just want to thank everyone involved,” Nitta told the crowd.
Weckesser’s recovery was quicker than Nitta’s, and she was able to complete her senior year, including participation on the dance team and in the marching band. Last summer, friends were enjoying themselves while Weckesser and Nitta were dealing with traumatic injuries, but they drew strength from each other.
“It would have been a lot different if it was just one person who had gotten injured,” Weckesser said. “Having someone else there in the hospital made it a lot better.”
Weckesser’s burns still were wrapped when she started school, but the bandages were all removed by the end of football season.
Nitta, burned over 85 percent of her body, endured months of additional treatments.
The night of the fire, a Basic High graduation celebration was interrupted when a teen rolled a 55-gallon drum partially filled with fuel into the bonfire. A trial is scheduled for October for Michael Brandon Boyd Jr., 19, who faces charges, including arson and mayhem, in connection with the explosion. Boyd is out on bail.
After the drum exploded, the injured teens drove themselves to St. Rose Dominican Hospital, de Lima campus, because they were out of cellphone range. They were transferred by ambulance to the trauma center at UMC.
Nitta and Weckesser spent the next several weeks in the pediatric intensive care unit, and the burn unit at UMC.
Nitta’s goal was to return to school and complete her junior year as if she never had been hurt. The volleyball player had to make adjustments, however, as the estimated date for her recovery was pushed from Thanksgiving to Christmas and beyond.
In February, Dr. Terry Lewis, a Las Vegas surgeon specializing in trauma, burns and wound care, took over the case. That was the turning point in Kaycee’s recovery, said her mother, Shelly Nitta.
“She still has numerous surgeries to go through for scar tissue and reconstruction,” Shelly Nitta said. “Up to two months ago, her upper body was still open, and she is completely closed now.”
Kaycee Nitta was able to attend school for most of the year and continues to be an honor student. She said her teachers at Basic High have been flexible, allowing her to complete assignments online, via email, and even through text messaging.
“Some days she didn’t go to class the whole day, but she went as much as she could,” Shelly Nitta said.
In addition to 18 surgeries, her treatment included physical therapy three days a week and daily wraps on the burned areas of her body.
“For a while there, we couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Shelly Nitta said.
Now, Kaycee Nitta looks forward to a triumphant senior year. Her injuries prevent her from competing on the volleyball team, but she is in the marching band, and she will be helping with volleyball in the role of coaches’ helper.
Nitta’s next goal is to get her driver’s license. She is limiting her medications to over-the-counter painkillers because stronger drugs would impair her driving.
“The pain only gets bad when I do too much,” she said.
She still has limited motion in her left shoulder, which her physical therapists are addressing, but the biggest irritation she faces is the constant itching she feels as her skin continues to heal.
On Friday, other survivors recognized the professionals who contributed to their recoveries, from ambulance to emergency department to hospital room to rehabilitation facility to therapy clinics.
Besides the teens, honorees this year included Quincey Davidson, who nearly drowned at Lake Mead. He was underwater for 10 minutes and was in a coma for six weeks before recovering.
Three-year-old Danber Lane was severely burned by an overturned pot of boiling water.
Todd Greenough of Las Vegas lost his spleen, tore his liver, and broke his collarbone, ribs and back during a motorcycle accident in the desert behind the M Resort.
UMC CEO Mason Van Houweling told those in attendance how they can draw inspiration from hearing about such stories of triumph.
“We can learn a lot of things from you,” Van Houweling told the survivors.
Contact Steven Moore at smoore@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563.
