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SASKATOONEXPRESS - April 29-May 5, 2019 - Page 1
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Volume 18, Issue 17, Week of April 29, 2019
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Kim Sutherland suffered burns to 40 per cent of her body in 1990. She and Saskatoon firefighter Jay Protz are co-chairs of a fundraising event on May 4. (Photo by Cam Hutchinson)
Burn injuries often require life-long care
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Cam Hutchinson Saskatoon Express he fundraising event is called the FIRE in the Kitchen Cook Off. Kim Sutherland can relate to the words fire and kitchen. In 1990, when she was 11 years old, the back of her shirt touched an element on the stove and went up in flames. She suffered burns to 40 per cent of her body, and spent two months in hospital. At the time, there was a burn unit in Saskatoon, so her treatment was here. “I got out Christmas Eve that year; a little bit early. Mom said, ‘We’re taking her home.’ I was really fortunate because I had amazing family support and my mom was a nurse.” With a burn, leaving the hospital is the start of a journey that is lifelong. “A burn isn’t like other injuries. It’s not like you can put a cast on a leg and then in six weeks you are good. . . . Chances are you won’t have any lifetime issues,” she said.
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Sutherland had further surgeries until she was 14. At that point, her surgeon said there wasn’t more that could be done for her. “I went through high school and it wasn’t great. It is what it was, and it was tough.” As an adult, Sutherland went to a Canadian burn survivor conference. There is a back story to it. Sutherland was facing leg surgery to fix a problem from a previous surgery. A week before her surgery, she told her doctor she couldn’t do it. She was at her breaking point and was physically sick. Her doctor told her how important it was, and said not having the surgery could result in Sutherland not being able to walk. “She prescribed me some medication to calm me down. She said, ‘Take this; you’re going to have the surgery and you’re going to be fine.’ She said, ‘I think we are going to get you some help.” Sutherland was baffled. “I think you have some post-traumatic stress,” the doctor said.
“I was like, that’s what soldiers get; I don’t have that.” The doctor thought Sutherland did. “I brushed it off; had the surgery and everything was fine.” And off to the conference she went. Sutherland attended a session on post-traumatic stress. “I sat in on it and all the check boxes (were being ticked). I thought, ‘Oh gosh, this is a bit of a wakeup call.” A burn survivor at the conference convinced her to talk with a professional. He was surprised she had never done that. He said she should also ask for a referral to a plastic surgeon because of neck pain, and numbness in her hands from a buildup of scar tissue. Sutherland came home from the conference and asked for the referrals. That was about 10 years ago. Sutherland waited for five years, only to be told it was beyond the skill set of local plastic surgeons. She was referred out of (Continued on page 10)
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