ANGIER, N.C. (WNCN) — A seventh grader from North Carolina is recovering from severe burns. He says he was trying to connect two objects he created with his 3D printer when everything went wrong.
Tyler Rockwell is excited to be back on his skateboard. It’s just the second time he’s been out since June 12, a day Tyler can hardly remember, but his mother will never forget.
Tyler was working on his 3-D printer when his mom, Donavon, heard a terrifying sound.
“It was just like this bloodcurdling scream, and so I’m running down all the flights of stairs and I still hear him screaming and screaming,” she recalled.
She said Tyler couldn’t speak. “I just grabbed his face… it was like melted; his skin was like melted,” she added.
First responders rushed him to UNC-Chapel Hill, so doctors in the burn center could care for him.
“They were absolutely incredible, absolutely incredible doctors, but it was hands-down the most torturous experience as a parent that I couldn’t do anything to help him,” Donavon Rockwell said.
After the initial panic wore off, Donavon learned Tyler was burned while trying to attach two objects he created on his 3-D printer.
“He took a lighter, tried to melt the surface and attach them that way,” she explained. She said he tried to keep safety in mind, making sure he had a wet paper towel available, but he didn’t realize the paper towel he grabbed had been used earlier with isopropyl alcohol to clean the 3-D printer’s plate.
“It caught him on fire, and then as he was running, he caught the bottle of isopropyl alcohol on fire and exploded it,” she said.
The pain was unimaginable; burns covered more than a third of Tyler’s body.
“I would just cry every night and kiss the tip of his nose good night because that was the only space on his face that wasn’t burned,” his mother said.
After three weeks in the hospital and multiple surgeries, Tyler has come a long way. He still has to cover his burns and can’t go outside without sunscreen, but the whole family is incredibly grateful for the medical teams who cared for Tyler.
They are also grateful that they have insurance, but even with it, they’re dealing with a lot of unexpected costs, including deductibles and special contacts that are not covered by insurance. A friend started a GoFundMe page to help them out.