Young Burn Victim On Road To Recovery

Tyler Sabino, 11, suffers severe pain after house fire in Colorado Springs leaves him with third degree burns on more than half his body.

Since that fateful January night he has been through 20 skin grafting surgeries and he says he?s often in severe pain.

KRDO-TV spoke exclusively to Sabino from his hospital room at Children?s Hospital in Aurora where he has spent the last several months.

Tyler recalled the painful memory of waking up to flames.

?I just ran back in my room because the smoke smelled so bad,? said Tyler. ?So my dad grabbed me and we were running down the stairs. I could feel the flames on me.?

The most extensive burns are on his hands, back and feet.

?I just saw that my feet were all bloody and my body was burnt and my dad was screaming,? said Tyler.

Vicki Sabino, Tyler?s mom, said she heard about the fire on the news. Tyler had been in the house with his father and stepmother.

?It was bad,? said Vicki Sabino, Tyler?s mom. ?They didn’t even think he was going to make it through the night.?

But Tyler made it through many nights. He fought for his life and is on the road to recovery.

?He loves being walked around in his wheelchair so that’s kind of an escape for him,? said Vicki.

Tyler also finds happiness in his video games.

?It?s an escape for him,? said Vicki. ?It just lets him forget everything and (he) forgets about, you know, his being burned.?

All that playing serves another purpose too.

?He doesn’t realize that’s therapy because he’s using his hands,? said Vicki.

Tyler was right handed, but he?s had to learn to write with his left hand. He?s learning to manage all the changes in his life.

?He?s improving,? said Vicki. ?It?s slow but he’s definitely taking it one day at a time.?

Because of some complications in his recovery Tyler is now going to Shriner?s Hospital in Sacramento. The hospital specializes in burn victims.

Tyler is expected to be back in school in August 2012, when he will be a fifth grader.