Terry McCarty was just six years old when he suffered third-degree burns to 70% of his body in a childhood accident.
After the accident, he was in a coma for two months, was hospitalized for a full year, and underwent 58 surgeries — along with endless bullying during his adolescence.
“After the accident I lived in a constant state of fear and uncertainty. I struggled to find work as an adult as people always told me I was a liability, and I had started to believe it,” McCarty told the Daily Mail.
“Becoming a fireman was a spur of the moment decision. I thought if I could do this, people would realize I could do anything.”
Located in Bellingham, Washington, McCarty joined the fire department and survived 12 weeks of grueling training, which included encountering fire again for the first time since he was a kid.
“In the end, I started to realize the fire didn't control me,” he said. “Why should I let fear take over my life?”
McCarty stayed on the firefighting force for two years before deciding to move on to a different role: working with the Burned Children Recovery Foundation at Camp Phoenix.
This program hosts an annual summer camp to provide youth burn survivors with counseling and peer support, as well as funding family support and financial assistance during burn recoveries.
“Fire robbed me of my childhood,” McCarty said. “I wanted to give these children a chance to experience being a kid.”
These days, although McCarty is no longer a firefighter, he organizes motivational speaking programs for firefighting groups and connects firefighters with burn survivors like him.
“As a firefighter, you see the worst of your community, and that could really do a lot of damage to your emotional and mental [health],” McCarty told People Magazine.
“I found a little bit of a niche on the outside of them to where I can still be kind of a part of that circle.”
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A version of this article was originally published in The 2024 Courage Edition of the Goodnewspaper.
Header image courtesy of Burned Children Recovery Foundation
