‘We are very grateful.’ Man who suffered thermal and chemical burns discharged from hospital
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IDAHO FALLS — A Twin Falls man is happy to finally be out of the hospital after suffering severe thermal and chemical burns from an industrial accident that happened last year.
Tracy Fox, 45, was discharged from Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls on Feb. 26. He had been there since Dec. 6 in a medically-induced coma.
“It’s a long road to recovery for me,” he said. “It’s still kind of rough just to have all of these skin grafts on me. It makes my skin irritated. I still have some underlying health conditions with my liver that I am dealing with from the event. I have a lot of nausea from it.”
EastIdahoNews.com had previously interviewed his wife, Carolyn Fox, about the incident her husband went through. Click here to read the previous stories.
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On Dec. 6, Tracy was working at a plant in Jerome for his company, Ecolab, when he was sprayed with 200-degree lye from a machine.
“I just barely touched the lid on the tank, and the lid flew off, spraying chemical and hot water all over myself, which started burning me … I was trying to get down the ladder rapidly, and it was very slippery from the chemical,” Tracy said. “My hand slipped off the handrail, and I fell around 12 feet onto the concrete. As I was falling, my right foot got caught in the ladder… it basically snapped my right foot. I landed on my right elbow.”
He suffered second and third-degree thermal burns and chemical burns over about 50% of his body. Even though it was bad, it could have been even worse if he didn’t have help nearby.
“There were two gentlemen who saw kind of what had happened and had heard Tracy calling for help. Even at risk to themselves, they both immediately took off and came running to help him, and that is something that we are both extremely grateful for because of how quickly they responded,” said Carolyn.
He was taken by air ambulance to EIRMC and was in a coma for about a month.
“Initially, when I woke up from the coma, it took me about 5 to 10 minutes to recognize who my wife was. I couldn’t remember where I lived or what my house even looked like. I knew enough when I saw my wife that this was an important person in my life. I knew that I had an accident and that I was waking up from something,” Tracy said.
Now that he is out of the hospital, Tracy has been busy with follow-up appointments, and physical and occupational therapy. According to a GoFundMe online created by Carolyn, Tracy lost about 40 pounds while in the hospital.
“I was in bed for so long that my muscles atrophied so I am kind of having to rebuild my stamina,” he said. “Just trying to get back to a normal life.”
Despite all the pain, Tracy said he is thankful to those in the community who have helped him and his wife.
“We are very grateful for all the support that everybody has given us on the GoFundMe,” he said.
As of Monday afternoon, the GoFundMe had raised over $41,000 out of a $45,000 goal and had received over 250 donations.
“We were down in Idaho Falls for almost three months. While Tracy was in the hospital, I had people inviting me into their homes for Christmas. We felt loved and supported,” Carolyn added.
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