Anyone who has been burned would probably say that it's the worst pain imaginable.
But after 22 days in MetroHealth Medical Center's burn unit, one young man said he's as determined as ever to pursue his dream, even though it makes him face the fire that put him there, reported 5 On Your Side's Alicia Booth.
Nick Kolesar, 22, admits that the suffering he's endured in the past seven months is his own fault.
The firefighter-in-training knew it was a bad idea to use gasoline to light the fire in the family's chiminea, but his knowledge made him feel invincible, so he did it anyway.
"I lit a match, threw it in. The flame came out, it flashed at me, as soon as the heat hit the can, it had no gas in it, just fumes, it exploded instantly," said Kolesar.
Kolesar knew what he had to do.
"I remember rolling around in the grass and seeing grass to the sky I ran back into the house, immediately called 911 and while waiting for the ambulance, looked in the mirror," said Kolesar.
Kolesar said he couldn't believe what he saw, Booth reported.
Metro Life Flight soon landed in the parking lot across from his Middleburg Heights home. It was the kind of scene he had witnessed many times as an EMT, but this time the view was different.
"Sitting there and looking up, you being the patient, as aside from being the medic helping that patient, it felt really weird," said Kolesar.
Acute care nurse practitioner Tammy Coffee remembers Kolesar's ordeal in Metro's burn unit very well.
"A lot of his was very deep, requiring surgery which made his recovery even more challenging. He had to work even harder at that point," said Coffee.
The pain was unbearable, with 22 percent of his body burned. But the experience hasn't made Kolesar afraid of fire.
"More than anything I want to walk into a fire and do what I can to help whoever's in there, to put it out, to rescue somebody -- I want that more now than I did before," he said.
Kolesar also wants to teach young people about fire danger.
His doctors now say Kolesar is healthy enough to pursue that goal. He said he can't wait for the chance to use his pain to help prevent someone else's.
Kolesar has finished his firefighters training and is now in the process of taking tests.
Jobs are tough to come by and Kolesar figures he'll have to leave the state to get one, but he said it will be worth it.
Kolesar's mistake is more common that you might think: When he was in the burn unit, there were three other people there because they had thrown gas on a fire.
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