Upcoming Husson’s fundraiser will help man severely burned on fishing trip

ST. ALBANS, WV (WOWK) – All day long on Wednesday, if you place an order at Husson’s Pizza in St. Albans and say the name “Trevor Morris” at the register, then 20 percent of your proceeds will go towards helping 22-year-old Trevor Morris in his road to recovery.

Morris, an electrician at the Charleston Area Medical Center, said he loves to be outside camping with friends and family. He was doing just that in June in Outer Banks, an annual tradition, when his life changed forever.

During the morning on June 27, he was trying to fry fish and hush puppies, part of that annual tradition.

“[I] got the Crisco [oil], and when we were heating the Crisco, it caught fire,” Morris said. “I grabbed the pan, and it had about a foot flame over top of the pan. I was carrying it fine throughout the house, but after I stepped down, that’s when my right foot caught fire and my leg started melting. I knew from there that it was not good. I kind of dropped the pan at that point, and I started just stopped dropped and rolled.”

He recalled going into shock until an ambulance arrived 30 minutes later.

“I really thought I was going to burn to death right there in front of all of my friends. I really did. I really didn’t know what was going to happen because when I caught on fire and I saw my leg, just the flames coming off of it,” Morris said.

Once the ambulance arrived, he said the shock began to wear off.

“I walked down to the ambulance holding their shoulders and jumped up into the ambulance. That’s when I knew, after I got into the ambulance, that’s how bad it was hurting… I know a couple of them [paramedics] prayed with me.”

That turned into one month at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital with multiple skin debridements and skin grafts to save his leg.

Due to the one-month hospital stay, ambulance rides and multiple procedures, he’s dependent on help from others as he begins to pay his medical bills. Wednesday’s fundraiser, organized by two of his former teachers, is meant to help him financially recover.

Though he was far from home during his initial recovery in the hospital, he was not alone.

“I think I realized this summer how blessed I am to have friends and family like I do. I really, there’s a song that I thought of in the hospital. I don’t know exactly who it’s by, it’s a country song, I think it’s called ‘you find out who your friends are,’ or whatever, and that’s what I thought about during this. You really do find out how many friends you have when something happens like this,” Morris said.

One example is his girlfriend Keirstin Lyons, who he said has been his best friend for two years.

“Definitely when people say you don’t know if you’re really going to be with somebody until something traumatic happens. Like, you really don’t know if you’re going to stay with someone when something that happens, through sickness and through health,” Lyons said.

Lyons continued, “I think at least it made me realize that when it happened, I knew I was going to be here no matter what happened. If he lost his leg, I didn’t care if he was going to be stuck in bed. I was going to be there for him and with him no matter what. So, I think it really made me realize how much I appreciate and love him.”

That love from others is what Morris said has allowed him to heal.

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