Rehabilitation for burn survivors in Taiwan

The June 27th Water Park Explosion in Taiwan injured 499 people, most of them are in their late teens and early twenties. Suddenly, their young lives were disrupted and as they began to be discharged from hospital, they slowly realized that this wasn't the end of their ordeal, and that in fact, the long road towards recovery stretched in front of them. Sometimes, it feels as if all of their dreams for the future are shattered and that it would just be easier to put them aside...

One of these young survivors from the Water Park Explosion is 19-year old Meng-Hsiu. Meng-Hsiu sustained second and third degree burns over 77% of his body, mainly his arms, legs and chest. Meng-Hsiu says: “After being discharged from the hospital, a social worker from Sunshine gave me a lot of encouragement, so I came to the Taoyuan-Hsinchu Service Center where I can do rehabilitation surrounded by other Water Park survivors. We encourage one another, so the days feel less painful.”

Meng-Hsiu has always loved playing baseball and before his injury, he was the pitcher for his university’s baseball team. Due to his burns, he is unable to raise his arms or his head, scars over his chest also restrict his movements and he has lost much of his muscle strength. Although it seems for now that his baseball dreams are far away, Meng-Hsiu hasn't given up. In order to return to the game he loves the most, Meng-Hsiu began physical rehabilitation immediately after hospital discharge in September. Despite the itching and pain caused by scars, he repeatedly stretches the scars on his chest, practices crouching on the ground and raising his arms. Meng-Hsiu says: “I want to return as soon as possible to school and play baseball with my teammates.”

Meng-Hsiu is one of the burn survivors currently undergoing rehabilitation at Sunshine's new Taoyuan-Hsinchu Service Center, which officially opened on October 16, 2015. The Taoyuan-Hsinchu Work Station was originally set up in 2014, but due to the rapid increase in the number of clients, which almost doubled within a year, the Work Station was expanded to become a full-fledged Service Center. This meant hiring physical and occupational therapists, social workers and a counseling psychologist, and moving to bigger facilities where we can provide physical rehabilitation and psychological counseling services. Currently, there are 45 burn survivors from the Water Park Explosion that have started undergoing rehabilitation at the Center.

During the opening ceremony for the new Service Center, Meng-Hsiu wore his team’s practice uniform to give himself courage, and showed everyone the progress he has made by demonstrating the pitching posture and movements. This was a very emotional moment for Meng-Hsiu, because it was the first time since his injury that he was able to do the thing he loves most, and it's a proof that he is getting closer to fulfilling his dream of playing baseball again. Meng-Hsiu strongly encourages all the burn survivors from the Water Park Explosion to begin rehabilitation: “Don’t give up on your dreams! You must courageously keep on moving forward!”

As a donor to our project Rehabilitation for burn survivors in Taiwan, you are helping Meng-Hsiu and countless other burn survivors move one step closer to realizing their dreams. Thank you for your support!