‘A matter of seconds’: A Parkland burn survivor’s story
Dangers of flammable liquids is theme of Burn Awareness Week, Feb. 4-10
It was a beautiful spring day with nary a cloud in the sky. The temperature was warming toward the upper 60s, and Dave Mikitka was doing what he had done countless times before – burning weeds in his backyard. But this time, tragedy would unfold, and the 67-year-old dentist found himself engulfed in a fireball.
Describing that fateful March afternoon nearly a year ago, Mikitka, who was home alone, said the 5-gallon propane tank he was using tipped over, breaking the valve and spewing liquid propane. “It was a matter of seconds,” he said, explaining how he managed to crawl out of the flames.
With his hands and fingers severely burned, dialing 911 was not an option, so Mikitka took what he calls a “calculated risk” and drove to Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth. “The medical district isn’t far from my house, and I knew I could take neighborhood roads to get there and not have to get on the freeway,” he said. “If something happened and I passed out, I was pretty sure someone in the neighborhood would see me and call for help.”
His risk paid off and after being triaged, he was transferred to Parkland’s Regional Burn Center where he would spend the next month.
Accidents like Mikitka’s bring to light the dangers of burns from flammable liquids and the theme of Burn Awareness Week, Feb. 4-10. “Burns from flammable liquids such as gasoline, paint thinner, turpentine and others, can happen to anyone,” said Sarah Scoins, MSN, RN, CNS, CCRN, ACCNS-AG, Parkland’s Burn Outreach and Injury Prevention Educator, who noted there are nearly 3,000 visits to Parkland’s outpatient burn clinic for minor burns each year. “You never know when a freak accident can happen, that’s why it’s so important to exercise caution when using these liquids.”
Mikitka agrees. “In my case it was purely a freak accident,” he said. “I had never heard of something like this happening. The tank just tipped over and the fireball got me.”
He spent the next several weeks undergoing grueling wound care followed by months of occupational therapy and laser scar removal treatments. Still, Mikitka never wavered on his belief that his life would return to normal, albeit a new normal.
With his fingers severely damaged, Mikitka was no longer able to do clinical work and was forced into early retirement and had to give up his dental practice. And while he healed, several of his beloved hobbies of restoring Vespa motor scooters and sculpting, ironically using a blow torch have been put on hold. “I will get back to it, it’s just going to take a little time,” he says, acknowledging that given his accident people might question him doing anything involving an open flame. “But,” he adds, “it is not the flame that bothers me, it is the roaring sound from the pressure. I can still hear that.”
Still, he has not let his injuries slow him down. “We all have challenges; we just have to figure out how to solve them. I am extremely fortunate. Yes, I lost my job, but I have a roof over my head, a loving wife and family and I have not lost my fingers or my hands,” he said. “I may not be able to do something the way I used to, but I figure out how to do it now.”
In the meantime, Mikitka has returned to backyard grilling, using his beloved late mother’s recipe for brownies, and is looking forward to the day when “this burn is just background noise.”
For more information about services available at Parkland, please visit www.parklandhealth.org.
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