I was left with horror burns in house fire & struggled to cope when wife left me – now I’m unrecognisable as bodybuilder
A BRAVE burns survivor has told how he turned his life around after he started bodybuilding to cope with his injuries and his wife leaving him.
Kevin, 35, suffered catastrophic third-degree burns to 75 per cent of his body after he was caught up in a horror house explosion with his pals.
The plumber had been at a home that had a deadly gas leak with six of his friends in 2019, when one of them unknowingly lit a cigarette.
The spark triggered a fatal blast, which tragically killed two of his pals and left two others with devastating injuries.
Kevin, from New York, sustained the worst injuries and was placed in a medically induced coma for 23 days.
He was forced to undergo a string of gruelling surgeries and endured numerous skin grafts to save his life.
Read More real life stories
Doctors then had to insert metal pins into his arms in a bid to facilitate their mobility after they were severely charred in the blaze.
And Kevin's road to recovery was made even more punishing after he contracted repeated staph infections.
The 35-year-old was left permanently disfigured after the devastating accident, which took him eight years to physically recover from.
The toll of his ordeal and his scars left Kevin scared to face the world - but his close-knit group of friends rallied around him.
Most read in The Sun
He explained: "I have had countless surgeries. For the first five or six years I was really, really nervous to go out.
"One of my buddies Dave, who was also in the fire, me and him kind of gave each other strength to push through it.
"And my friends wouldn't let me stay inside. They literally would be like, 'Oh, we're going to the club'.
"And I'd be like 'I don't have the money'. 'Oh, I'll pay for you', 'I don't have an outfit', 'Oh, I could come up with something'.
"Any excuse and they were just 'No'. They weren't having it," he said.
"So they forced me to be around in social situations and push me past you know, being afraid and ashamed of my scars."
HEARTBREAK
The burns survivor then managed to find love and got hitched in 2020 - but just three months later, his wife left him.
Kevin continued: "My wife cheated on me three months into it.
"I was really angry. I have an addiction and my mother was worried about me relapsing."
But the plucky plumber decided to bounce back from his heartbreak and instead launched his own business.
"So I decided to put all that negative energy and bad energy into something else and I started up a gym and started writing," he said.
"Since I started a lot of people started actually reaching out to me on social media.
"I'm very open about my recovery and I believe it gives others motivation."
I decided to put all that negative energy and bad energy into something else and I started up a gym and started writing.
Kevin
The 35-year-old then extraordinarily devoted himself to his fitness journey, transforming his physique and mental state.
Although he admits "it's been a long road," Kevin credits his dedication to training to saving his life.
"Now the scars honestly don’t bother me," he added proudly.
Kevin hopes his inspirational story will encourage others to embark on their own health kick while showing other burns survivors the light at the end of the tunnel.
We previously told how this burns survivor said she was GLAD the sustained her injuries - as it allowed her to support other victims.
Saffron Cohen was just four years old when she underwent dozens of skin grafts and even needed staples to hold her fragile skin together.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Read More on The Sun
The youngster was set alight when she danced beside an uncovered gas fire and her long summer dress went up in flames.
But despite her agonising operations and lifelong scars, the assistant psychologist said her experience has taught her a lot about herself, and even inspired the subject of her uni dissertation.
