Julia Young works to be more than a burn victim
Harriman - Julia Young has endured multiple surgeries to repair her body, and despite medication, the pain is always there. But she takes it. When they say someone shows a lot of spunk, Julia has shown plenty and then some. On a calm night in 2009, the 15-year-old youngster was with friends, hanging around a bonfire in Harriman. She mistakenly tossed gasoline onto the fire. The fire shot back, igniting the gasoline can and engulfing her in flames. She suffered burns over 80 percent of her body. “That left just a 20 percent chance of her surviving,” her father Jerry Young said in a recent telephone conversation. “Third degree burns covered 65 percent of her body, and they had to replace the skin on her ankles, hips, legs, hands, neck, ears and front of face.” Jerry Young can recite these statistics in his sleep. In the14 months since that night, he and his wife, Michele, have seen their only child through a stay at Westchester Children’s Hospital, then at its Burn Center and finally to the Shriner’s Burn Treatment Center in Boston. Julia was released from Shriner’s last November, and joined her parents in a small apartment in Blackstone, Mass. She has returned to high school, plans to graduate and will remain in the Boston area to complete two more years worth of surgeries. Julia has made friends with kids from a local church, and has taken an active part in a local burn victims support group. “Her next surgery will repair muscles in her feet that were affected from so much time in bed,” Jerry said. Through the Internet and FaceBook, Julia continues to stay in touch with her Monroe-Woodbury friends. Some have made the trip to Massachusetts to see her, and recently the Young family came to Monroe for an event. “I love and miss her very much,” said Kayla Marks, 17, a close friend and Monroe-Woodbury student. “I wish I could be there for her more but my time spent with her was one of the happiest in my life. I miss her, I love her, and hope to go up and see her again soon. I’ll do anything for her.” Julia’s father said that she “is putting together a Power Point presentation to warn kids about the dangers of not only fire, but in staying safe, and thinking before they act. Julia’s experience would be very dramatic, and would get the kids’ attention.” As she gets stronger and puts a few more surgeries behind her, she’ll start rehearsing and presenting the program to small groups, and one day, back in the Monroe-Woodbury community - with her buddies at her side.