A 2-year-old boy, severely injured in a midtown house fire, is recovering in a Galveston hospital where he underwent a four hour surgery to treat third degree burns covering more than 80 percent of his body.
Alex Stephenson's family said he is doing better, but the recovery ahead will be an uphill battle.
It's a devastating time for the Stephenson family. Their spunky, full of life 2-year-old, now confined to a hospital bed, unable to speak.
But the family said his attitude has always been to overcome and they feel that, along with the communities prayers,will save him.
It was a fateful day, full of flames, smoke, sirens and tears.
"I wish I could take the pain," Sam Stephenson, Alex's grandmother, said. "I wish I could wake up. There's part of me that says this isn't real, this can't be real, this baby can't be suffering like this."
A baby boy, full of spunk and laughter, now fighting for his life after suffering burns to nearly his entire body.
"He's been unconscious," Stephenson said. "They put him in a medically induced comma to prevent the horrible, horrible pain."
The moment happened in an instant. Amanda Stephenson was outside in the backyard with her son when the garage went up in flames and Alex began to scream.
"She turned around, he was in the doorway on fire, she ran through, scooped him up and went inside to put the fire out," Stephenson said.
Amanda said time froze, until a stranger came rushing through the front door. That man, Abigail Rebolledo, now deemed a hero. He said he did what he had to do.
Rebolledo denies it, and said he isn't a hero, and that any good person would have done the same to save a child.
The Stephenson family, however, is thankful his brave act gave Alex a second chance at life.
"This man was instrumental in that, and I am so grateful he was here," Stephenson said.
After extensive surgery, Alex is doing better. His family said he's lost an ear, and they still await a condition on the rest of his face.
Doctors said he still stands the risk of liver failure or pneumonia. Meanwhile, his mom and dad are both by his side, waiting to see their bright little boy once again open his eyes.
"If you ask him for a hug, he presents his little baby lips to you so you can kiss him," Stephenson said.
A kiss his family said he would surely give, as long as the community continues to pray.
Alex is expected to remain at the Galveston Shriner's Burns Hospital for Children for the next three or four months.
If you'd like to donate to the family in their time of need, click the linkhere.
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