The father of a young boy who was seriously burned in a fire early Wednesday morning is sharing his story.
Chris McNeil says his son Cody remains in hospital in critical, but stable, condition.
Speaking to CFRA’s Beyond the News with Brian Lilley McNeil says doctors are keeping a close watch over his son.
“He’s in rough shape,” McNeil says. But he said it looks like Cody is going to recover. “The main risk now is him catching any kind of infection or illness, or any kind of sepsis, which could seriously hinder his recovery.”
McNeil says Cody suffered burns to his face, arms and hands, and one of his feet, but didn’t suffer much internal damage, aside from a burnt lung, which McNeil says Cody should recover from within a week, with the help of a breathing tube.
McNeil says Cody’s pajamas were flame retardant, which meant he only suffered contact burns. Cody will need skin grafts on his forehead.
Firefighters and paramedics were called to the McNeils’ home on Gowrie Drive just after 2:10 a.m. Wednesday. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation. The fire was contained to Cody’s bedroom, and did roughly $100,000 in damage. Forensic investigators have seized some appliances from Cody's room, including the humidifier, but say it could be months before a cause is determined.
McNeil says the humidifier was the only thing that was plugged in at the time of the blaze.
McNeil described the frightening scene just after the smoke alarms went off.
“When the smoke alarm went off at ten after two in the morning, I was going downstairs to check and my wife Tammy was checking upstairs,” he said. “The first room she went to was Cody’s room, so before I could make it down the stairs she said, ’it’s in here!’ I could see, from my position on the stairs, into his room. The only fire I saw at that point was, in fact, the humidifier and the cord going into the wall from the humidifier. When Tammy fully opened the door, it released oxygen into the room and that’s when his crib just went up in flames.”
McNeil says his wife was fearless in saving their son.
“Without hesitation she charged toward the bed and grabbed him and pulled him right out of there, like a superhero.”
She suffered some smoke inhalation and some bruising after running into the crib to grab Cody. McNeil suffered smoke inhalation as well.
A GoFundMe page, set up to help the family quickly exceeded its $5,000 goal within a day, with over 100 people donating. McNeil says he is grateful to everyone who donated.
“It’s incredible, and it helps more than I can really say,” he says.