New Zealand volcano victim, 19, lost nearly all his skin in blast that caused burns to 80% of his body
JAKE Milbank is making a slow and painful recovery after surviving the White Island blast that destroyed almost all of his skin.
The teen was working as a tour guide on the island and celebrating his 19th birthday when the New Zealand volcano erupted on December 9.
Jake received burns to 80 per cent of his body and is in the intensive care unit of Middlemore Hospital in Auckland but is now up and talking.
He is now awake and has been able to talk to his family for the first time from a special, pressurised, temperature-controlled pod in the Middlemore ICU.
His mum, Janet, and dad, Steve, have been by his side at the hospital and expressed their gratitude to all the heroes involved in the rescue and treatment of their son, saying their efforts saved their boy and the lives of other victims of the eruption.
Mrs Milbank told the Whakatane Beacon: “Jake knows exactly what has happened. He is generally a pretty upbeat, positive guy, but I guess he has got a lot going on in his mind, but he is taking it in his stride.”
LONG SLOW RECOVERY
His dad Steve said the doctors were impressed with how their “bloody amazing” son was coping.
He said: “He is doing as good as we could hope for with the injuries he has got. He has blown us away
“He is still going for operations every few days, some skin grafts, but because he has got very little skin it is going to be a long, slow process, but he is going in to have all his dressings changed and cleaned and checked.”
He said physiotherapists were working on Jake. “Just trying to stretch his limbs and keeping him a bit mobile and making sure [he doesn’t] seize up … they are doing a massive job, the staff here at Middlemore are just fantastic.”
‘IT’S EARLY STAGES’
“He is recovering as well as anyone could expect to because he is young, and he is fit, but it is early stages; it is going to be a long road and he is not out of the woods, he is still in ICU, so we are still plugging away day-by-day.
“The longer it goes on the more hopeful we are.”
They told the Whakatane Beacon yesterday that they wanted to thank the “incredible” and “outstanding” community, the hospital staff at Whakatane and Middlemore hospitals, the helicopter pilots and the White Island Tours crew.
‘SO THANKFUL’
Mr Milbank said: “Any delays in getting Jake off the island and that would have been it, so we are just so thankful to everybody involved, the ambos, the coastguard, doctors, everybody.
“There were helicopters flying solidly all night that night shifting people around the country. The whole combined effort was just incredible.”
Mrs Milbank said: “People around the world who are sending those awesome messages to him and that has been really good for him. They certainly helped me in those first few days.”
Jake is one of the few lucky survivors.
Another survivor who was on the island and has burns on 90 per cent of his body had to watch the funerals of his parents and sister from his hospital bed.