Life's A Beach for Burn Survivors in La Jolla

Written by Kyle Lundberg

After 5-year-old John Paul fell into a metal fire pit, his mother, Christina Figone, knew the recovery process would be long and arduous.

His legs and arms were badly burned. The result was multiple skin grafts and two weeks worth of surgery.

Shortly after, Figone heard about the Burn Institute, an organization that helps young burn survivors and their parents heal and move on with their lives. Her son began attending a youth camp run by the Institute called “Camp Beyond the Scars,” and she came on as a camp counselor in 2012.

This year’s camp, centered at Oak Bridge in Ramona, held a day trip to La Jolla Shores on Thursday, where campers and counselors participated in surfing competitions and races on the beach. 

Figone returned with her son, now 10, to join hundreds of campers — ranging in ages from 5-17 — from several southern California counties as well as Arizona and Nevada.

Figone said a major draw of the camp is the opportunity for survivors to meet other kids who have gone through similar experiences.

“It helps kids feel connected to others,” she said. “Some of these kids don’t know anyone likes them. They meet someone with way more burns than they have, and it encourages them in a way, because they see how others have overcome their own burns.”

The Burn Institute often enlists the help of firefighters, who work as camp counselors. Kat Johnson, a firefighter from Palm Springs, is in her second year as a counselor. She paddled out into the La Jollan waters with campers to help them get a handle on surfing.

“I love it,” Johnson said. “(The kids) always teach you more than you can teach them.”

When camper Marius was nine years old, he was burned in a house fire that claimed the life of his parents. Now 14, Marius has been adopted by a San Diego family and was attending the camp this week for his fifth year.

“It’s really fun,” he said. “I got up on the surfboard a couple of times.”

Not all burn cases are under extreme circumstances, however, especially among youth.

According to statistics from the American Burn Association, 450,000 burn injuries received medical treatment in 2012, and nearly seven in 10 burn injuries occur in the home.

Dana Kuhn, a director of programs with the Burn Institute, is especially concerned about scalding burns in the home, particularly among infants and children up to five years old.

“A lot of our kids are ‘pull-down,’ she said. “Whether it’s coffee spills, tea or the bathtub — hot liquid burns like fire.”

Kuhn tells the story of a girl who was burned by scalding when she was three. She is now 23 and has since gone through 85 surgical procedures to treat her burns.

“Scar tissue doesn’t develop with the rest of the body,” she said. “Most kids see multiple procedures throughout their lifetime.”

Kuhn advises parents to keep an eye on their young kids, ensuring that no hot liquids or pans are left where they can be reached, even for a second.

But for parents like Figone, dwelling on the past doesn’t do any good. She hopes, through programs like Camp Beyond the Scars, her son can feel confident in moving on and living a normal life.

“The community (the kids) find within each other is something special,” she said. “Kids will often refer to their ‘burn camp family,’ and they find support in that.

“Not everyone can hide their burns, and the camp helps them in finding acceptance and growing more confident every day.”