`I'VE NEVER MISSED A SWIM MEET' BURNED TEEN DEFIES THE ODDS.Byline: CAROL ROCK Staff Writer VALENCIA -- Even a life-changing fire couldn't make Michael Ewart miss the annual neighborhood swim meet. Savoring a first-place victory for the Valencia Hills Wave's A-team of 15- and 16-year-old swimmers in the 200-yard medley med·ley n. pl. med·leys 1. An often jumbled assortment; a mixture: "That night he dreamed he was traveling in a foreign country, only it seemed to be a medley of all the countries he'd ever been to and relay, Ewart was exceptionally proud because he'd been told that competing would be out of the question. When he woke up in the Grossman Burn Center last December after a two-week coma, Michael cautiously asked a nurse if he would play soccer again. She told him no. He asked her if he would be swimming again. Again, her answer was no. On Saturday morning, he proved her wrong. ``I've never missed a swim meet,'' Michael said. ``When I was younger, it was fun and stuff, but now that I'm older, I know how important it is. If you commit to a team, you can't back out.'' Michael suffered third-degree burns third-degree burns npl → brûlures fpl au troisième degré third-degree burns third npl → Verbrennungen pl dritten Grades on his back, arms and hands Dec. 20 when candles left burning from a holiday party ignited ig·nite v. ig·nit·ed, ig·nit·ing, ig·nites v.tr. 1. a. To cause to burn. b. To set fire to. 2. To subject to great heat, especially to make luminous by heat. his father's Via Escobar home. Michael, his father David, Michael's siblings siblings npl (formal) → frères et sœurs mpl (de mêmes parents) Jonathan and Heather, and David's parents, Hugh and Esther, escaped out a second-story window. Badly burned, Michael ran more than a block to his mother's home, but ended up knocking on the door of a neighbor, a nurse. ``All I knew was that my back hurt,'' he said. ``When they put the blanket around me, it started smoking.'' Michael remembers little of the ambulance ride to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, but nothing after being transferred to the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks. When he woke up two weeks later, he told his mother he was going to be late for soccer. Mom Jacqui smiled with relief, remembering that day. ``He was bandaged from head to toe like a mummy because of the burns and the (skin) grafts,'' she said. ``He was a little confused.'' Once he realized how serious his injuries were, Michael said he felt an inner determination to recover. Returning home from the hospital less than a month after the fire, he embarked on a rigorous physical therapy regimen to regain his flexibility. That included getting ready for the annual summer plunge. He returned to classes at Hart High in January and was allowed to venture into a hot tub in March. His first lap swims were just a month ago, but he found evening workouts, done after sundown to lessen the possibility of sunburns to his still-sensitive skin, helped increase his mobility as well as his lung capacity. Michael's efforts over the past couple of months include researching statistics and starting paperwork to form a foundation to educate people about the importance of smoke alarms. While he swam in regulation Speedos on Saturday, Michael's daily wear still includes pressure garments on his arms that go from shoulder to fingertips "Fingertips" is a 1963 number-one hit single recorded live by "Little" Stevie Wonder for Motown's Tamla label. Wonder's first hit single, "Fingertips" was the first live, non-studio recording to reach number-one on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the United States. . Skin grafts skin graft Autologous, donated, or surrogate skin removed from one site to cover surfaces on another region with 3rd-degree burns or traumatic tissue loss. See Split-thickness graft. Cf Artificial skin, 'Spray-on' skin. on his back and face have erased some of the reminders of the burns. Doctor visits sometimes include cortisone cortisone (kôr`tĭsōn'), steroid hormone whose main physiological effect is on carbohydrate metabolism. It is synthesized from cholesterol in the outer layer, or cortex, of the adrenal gland under the stimulation of adrenocorticotropic shots -- as many as 50 into the affected areas to improve mobility -- but he's reluctant to have cosmetic surgery cosmetic surgery, plastic surgery for cosmetic purposes, such as the improvement of the appearance of the face by removing wrinkles or reshaping the nose. to change the look of his bright red arms. ``As long as I have full mobility, I don't care
"Don't Care" is a 1994 (see 1994 in music) single by American death metal band Obituary. what I look like,'' he said, smiling. Michael's burn scars did nothing to deter the jubilation at poolside pool·side n. The area next to or around a swimming pool. Saturday, as he and teammates Weston Paglia, T.J. Schramm and Andrew Skarvna were congratulated by their coach, Andy Evans. ``I've known him since he was 10 and he deserves all the congratulations,'' Evans said of Michael. ``He was always at practice, sometimes even swimming by himself when he didn't have to. He's determined.'' As Evans and the other teammates walked away, Ewart stopped to hug Kelsey Koch, a 9-year old swimmer wearing a bright blue tanksuit and pink glasses. ``You're going to win; you're really good,'' he told the girl. Koch's mother was the neighbor who found Michael injured in·jure tr.v. in·jured, in·jur·ing, in·jures 1. To cause physical harm to; hurt. 2. To cause damage to; impair. 3. on her doorstep. ``They are very good buddies,'' Jacqui Ewart said, grinning. ``Now they're the best of friends.'' carol.rock@dailynews.com (661) 257-5252 CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1 -- 4 -- color) Michael Ewart, 16, swims the breast stroke during a Saturday swim meet. Ewart is recovering from severe burns suffered in a house fire in December. Below, assistant coach Katie Boring, Ewart and head coach Andrew Evans Andrew Evans refers to:
Alex Collins/Special to the Daily News |
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