Explosion in car sidelined trucker for two weeks

BATESVILLE Johnny Roberts woke up to a new president-elect and lower gas prices.

After his car filled with gas fumes on a hot day, then exploded with him in the driver's seat, he spent weeks unconscious in a hospital bed.

He endured additional weeks of therapy, but went home Friday.

For the last 12 days, Johnny has been a patient at White River Medical Center's in-patient rehab unit, which cares for patients who require intensive therapy to regain strength or to relearn tasks of daily living after a major illness or injury. Patients must be able to participate in three hours of therapy each day. The patients may require a combination of physical, occupational or speech therapy.

His discharge capped a six-week hospital stay in Batesville and Little Rock following a fiery explosion in which he was severely injured on Sept. 23.

.story-ad {

width: 310px;

float: left;

margin: 0 10px 10px 0;

padding: 4px;

}

- Advertisement -

OAS_AD('x22');

He remembers everything about that day and he is quick to dispute a fire official's comment that they might have been "hoarding gas."

Johnny said his wife, Kathy, had bought some gas for the Weedeater and stored it in the trunk, and he didn't know the gas can was still there when he went to lunch.

"We weren't hoarding gas," he said. "She put it in there and I didn't know it."

Johnny met a friend, Shannon Morris, for lunch at Pizza Hut, then left his vehicle in the parking lot while the two drove around town to do some errands. They got back around 3:30 p.m. and when Johnny started his 1995 Chevrolet Lumina, it exploded, blowing out the windshield and melting the interior of the car.

Had Johnny had the driver's side door shut when he slid his key in the ignition, he would have been killed, he said. Kathy said that gives her chills.

But the door was open, and as it was, Johnny was burned on half his body, and even his clothes had burned in places.

He was able to walk without assistance to the ambulance after the explosion. "I didn't think it was as bad as it was," he commented. "The only thing that hurt was my hands."

Morris called Kathy, telling her not to "get excited" but that Johnny had been in an accident.

"I lost it," she said. "I didn't know how bad he was. ... I was just thankful he was alive. It scared me, it scared me bad."

Johnny was taken first to WRMC, then to the burn unit at Arkansas Children's Hospital. It would be 48 to 72 hours before the hospital knew the extent of the damage. At first doctors were sure he would have to have skin grafts on his arms, legs and ears.

But he didn't have any grafts, he said proudly.

He spent five weeks in the children's hospital and was unconscious the whole time. It wasn't until he was transferred to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences that he started coming to consciousness.

He was weak.

"I couldn't even roll over when I got down there," he said.

He was weaned off a ventilator and recovered enough to be transferred back to WRMC.

Therapy at WRMC involves a lot of stretching and muscle building. The skin growing over the scar tissue has to be stretched so he can use his hands again one day.

"He woke up to a new president and gas prices being lower," Kathy said.

"I didn't get to vote," Johnny said with a laugh.

Being unconscious for so long had an effect on him, he said, and it was hard to "get refocused," but as he got stronger and began to do his therapy, the more focused he became.

"They brought me a long way," he said.

Thursday afternoon, Johnny was looking forward to going home, which is in Southside. It's remarkable that his stay at WRMC is so short, he said, considering his lengthy stay in Little Rock, but his therapists here say he has made excellent progress and has been working extremely hard.

On his first day of physical therapy, he took three steps. The next day, he took six. By the third day, he crossed 100 feet.

On Wednesday he climbed a stairway three times, a major accomplishment for him.

"But I was sore this morning," he said, leaning back. "My back was a little sore, but they don't you let slack."

Johnny has 45 minutes of therapy on either the lower or upper portion of his body, takes a break, then works on the other portion of his body for another 45 minutes. That process is repeated, making two 1 1/2 hour sessions a day.

He praises the staff at WRMC, crediting them for his speedy recovery. "I had to wait two weeks to get in here, but it was well worth the wait," he said.

He said he was committed and had one thought, that of going home. "Whatever they wanted me to do, I would do it."

There's someone else Johnny credits. "If it weren't for the Lord, I wouldn't be here."

He said the first thing he'll do once he gets home is check out his new bed. He and Kathy had a waterbed, but they were afraid he wouldn't be able to get out of it, so Kathy bought a new one.

They also hope to have Home Health come in once a week.

Until he transferred to WRMC, Kathy hadn't left her husband, spending night after night in Little Rock. Their 15-year-old son has been staying with his grandmother.

"She stuck to me like a tick," Johnny said.

Johnny, a trucking owner-operator, also said he hopes to go back to work after the first of the year. He'd originally hoped to start by Thanksgiving, but eventually realized that was not realistic.

Now he's just glad to be home before Thanksgiving.

"I got my own rig, but right now it's sitting in the driveway with nothing to do," he said.

He was the only source of revenue for the family, and a benefit account has been set up at Regions Bank, the Johnny Roberts Fund.

And he's had a lot of friends and family stop by, for which he and Kathy are grateful. They attend Mount Zion Baptist but other churches sent in prayer cards and well wishes following the accident.

Both Johnny and Kathy say they are so thankful and appreciative of all the donations that have been given, as well as the prayers, phone calls and other support.

"It's good that people remember you when something like this happens," she said.