Shriners Children's Boston Patient Scarlett Benefits from Specialized Burn Care

It was August of 2020, the first summer of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Looking for creative ways to spend more time outdoors, 2-year-old Scarlett’s family planned a festive backyard camping experience, complete with tents and a campfire.

The family spent an enjoyable evening with friends under the stars and everyone was excited to be spending the night in tents. Scarlett’s parents, Jenny and Nathan, were careful to extinguish the campfire before going to bed, and had made sure that their garden hose was at the ready the entire time it was being used.

The backyard campers awoke to a chill in the air and a light drizzle the next morning, so they went inside for breakfast. When the weather cleared that afternoon, Jenny took her daughter back outside where Scarlett accidentally stepped into the ashes of the extinguished fire pit. Even though hours had passed, the ashes were still hot enough to burn her feet.

“I was very surprised that the fire pit ashes were still so hot after all that time, especially with the rain that morning,” Jenny said. Jenny and Nathan were concerned that Scarlett’s burn injury was serious, and they wanted to be sure she received the right treatment. They took her to a local hospital where she was quickly referred to Shriners Children’s Boston for specialized burn care.

Scarlett was an inpatient at Shriners Children’s Boston for about three weeks and had several surgeries on her feet. Since then Scarlett has returned for follow-up surgeries, with the most recent in December of 2021.

Jenny said she learned from Scarlett’s care team that no two burns are the same, and it can be hard to predict how often a child will need surgery. In Scarlett’s case, she may not need additional surgery for another 10 years. “We were relieved to hear this news because that means Scarlett will be a teenager and better able to understand what is happening to her before the next surgery,” said Jenny.