Bullock beats odds, returns to court

VILONIA — A love for hoops motivated a badly burned Vilonia Junior High School student to return to the classroom and the basketball court.  

Nearly a year ago, Austin Bullock, a ninth-grader, was burned over about 40 percent of his body, suffering third-degree burns, when he poured gasoline on a smoldering fire. 

It was a cool, crisp Dec. 28 day, Bullock said, and he was hanging out at a friend’s house. The teenagers had started a bonfire as a means to keep them warm while outside. As a break to watch movies, they went inside and returned later to find their fire had died down, Bullock explained.

“I tossed a little gas on it to get it going,” Bullock said. “The can just exploded.”

He was life-flighted to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, and his family was told that he would be hospitalized for at least 40 days and probably lose some of the use of his arms. 

“They said I couldn’t play basketball again,” Bullock said. “They said I would not regain full motion. They said it was a pretty safe bet I would have to be in there at least 40 days because I had to be where I could have the dressing changed with no pain medication,”

Determined to beat the odds, Bullock endured all necessary treatment, regardless of the extreme pain, allowing him to be released in 16 days. 

His mother, Beth, took leave from her job to take care of her son throughout his recovery. 

“She was great,” said the younger Bullock. 

His home care, he said, also included doctor visits, therapy four or five days a week and his mother scraping his burns and changing his dressings and he still had to endure without any pain medications. As well, the young man faced a risk of serious infections requiring him to be isolated at times from anyone but his immediate family. 

“Therapy was getting old,” Bullock said. “I was getting tired of it. I thought if I could just get back to basketball, it was something that I loved to do, and maybe I could use it for therapy.”

A couple of months later, Bullock decided he was well enough to go back to the classroom. A therapist, he said, helped to make it happen and he returned after spring break.  

“It sounds like a lot of fun not going to school,” Bullock said. “But, I hated being at home. My therapist, Margaret Standridge, understood.”

Bullock said his therapist rigged up some props that he could place on a school desk allowing his arms to be outstretched during class time. He described the props as similar to a broomstick molded to his arm. While they weren’t real comfortable, they allowed him to continue his studies in the classroom.

Although it was the offseason for basketball play, Bullock’s desire continued to mount. 

At the beginning of this school year, Bullock made up his mind to play. He was out of shape but endured the pain and began practicing alongside his friends. 

“It had been almost a year since I had played and I was terrible,” he shared. 

The basketball coaches had visited with the young man on many occasions, including in the hospital, and knew of his burning desire to get back to playing basketball. They said they admired his spirit. 

“His work ethic had improved so much,” said Karla Ault, junior high boy’s basketball assistant coach. “Before he was just kind of out here.” 

She recognized that he was on a mission. He used the basketball practices, she said, as therapy sessions.

“He would shoot over and over,” she said. 

Junior high boys basketball head coach Steve Gotcher also observed Bullock’s drive and stamina. 

“I didn’t cut him any slack. I knew the more I pushed him, the better it was for him,” Gotcher said. 

At first, Bullock was so weak, Gotcher recalls, that he could only practice a few minutes and sit and rest for a few minutes.

“He has worked harder than any other player that I’ve got,” Gotcher said. 

Saturday, Bullock, wearing No. 21 on his uniform, played as a starting point guard on the junior high boys basketball team in its first game of the season.  

“I was so nervous,” Bullock said. “I didn’t know if I would be able to play. I didn‘t know how I was going to do.” 

Gotcher, however, wasn’t worried about him. He knew, he said that Bullock would do just fine.

On a scale of 180, Bullock said his arm range is currently at 170. There are still places on his arm, he said, where the feeling has not returned. He has to wear a covering on his right arm and plans to endure whatever it takes to complete the healing process.  

The first game of the season was a loss for the team, but it was a win for Bullock. He scored six points.