Charlie kicked off 2022 like any other active eight-year-old boy. Between throwing himself into school, basketball and rugby league on the afternoons and weekends, he had managed to fall over, break his elbow, and cut his eye all before winter had even arrived.  

By June 2022, most of his family had come down with the flu, and Charlie had developed a chest infection forcing him to slow right down. To help with Charlie's congestion, his GP suggested his mother, Mary, add some Vicks into hot water and get Charlie to lean over the bowl and breathe in the steam – a home remedy many families have used in the past.  

Unfortunately for Charlie, this home remedy went horribly wrong when the bowl slipped from the table and covered part of his abdomen, his groin, and thighs with scalding water.  

"We immediately took his clothes off and ran him straight to the bath and just started with the cold water on the top of his body. My husband did that while I called the ambulance,” explained Mary. 

15 minutes later, the ambulance arrived, and Charlie and his dad were off to the Children's Hospital at Westmead. After a quick trip through ED, Charlie was taken to the Clubbe Ward - his home for the next three weeks.  

After examining the burns, the medical staff were upfront that Charlie would need a skin graft.  

"They said that basically whatever doesn't heal within two weeks would need to get grafted for it to heal it properly without scarring,” recalled Mary.  

"For those first two weeks, he went under general anaesthetic every couple of days to get his dressings changed and to have a look at how it was healing and where he would need to be grafted.” 

Due to the severity of his burns, Charlie’s care became more involved than just changing dressings and included overnight tube feeding to increase his protein intake and help with the wound healing.  

While battling everything, Charlie was also still sick with a chest infection, which meant he had to be isolated from the rest of the ward. Being isolated means extra steps need to be involved in caring for any patient, but Mary and Charlie never felt those extra steps.  

"The nurses and everything, even though we were isolated, they weren't avoiding us. They were with us all the time, talking to us, coming in to see him. I didn't feel like we were not given the care that we needed because we had flu-symptoms. That's another thing that made the experience better. Clubbe Ward was absolutely amazing."  

Despite all the difficulties in hospital, there was an incredible team who worked to make Charlie's time in hospital as enjoyable as possible. Child life therapists provided him with Nintendo switches and fidget spinners to play with, and a psychologist spoke to him about his anxieties. Mary says Charlie handled his time in hospital like "a trooper."  

Mary and her husband also regularly spoke to a psychologist to help them process Charlie's accidental burn. When children are injured, it affects the whole family unit, and it is important to acknowledge how everyone  is managing.  

Just a few weeks into their stay, it was confirmed Charlie had burns to 18% of his body and one-third of those burns needed a skin graft.  

Nine months on, while Charlie's scars have been healing extraordinarily well, he will still be visiting the clinic for treatment for many months to come.  

At first, he visited the Burns Outpatient Clinic a few times a week. After treating an infection that was slowing his burns healing process, he was able to stretch outpatient clinic visits to once a week, then every second week, every third week and now he is visiting once every three months.  

Charlie's biggest ongoing piece of treatment is a compression suit he wears all the time under his clothes for scar management. When asked about how his scars are looking now, nine months post-incident, Mary says "It's looking really good. A lot better than I thought it would."  

Charlie is back playing all his regular sports, going to school, and living life and is hopeful he won’t have to wear his compression suit for much longer. In sharing their story, Mary and Charlie reflected on their experiences in Clubbe Ward and what they wanted to ask of people reading their story.  

“I couldn't fault it. Just amazing from the minute that we walked in through those doors, everything was explained to us clearly multiple times. If we needed it, everyone came to see us. We just felt like everyone around us was there for us. So, I can't fault it.”  

“If we can help to raise funds for this for the Children's Hospitals, that is a good reason to share our story. It was heartbreaking being in there. There were little children that had tipped kettles on their heads. And it's a really intensive sort of process that you have to go through. It's pretty scary for a child to sort of go through that. So yeah, just if we can raise money and raise awareness. That's enough for us." 

Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation raises vital funds to help provide all children with access to the best possible healthcare, whenever and wherever they need it. By supporting Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation, you can make one donation that helps all sick kids, regardless of their age or the type of illness or injury they are fighting. 

In treating respiratory viruses, the Sydney Children's Hospital Network encourages children to have warm baths or showers to help with the decongestion of nasal passages. SCHN does NOT recommend the use of steam inhalation or vaporizers due to the risk of burning.