Copeland Family Fire

Whitney (7:40am PST, Friday, 4/29/22) Little Krew man is off to surgery #11. He is starting a series of laser treatments to hopefully break down some of the thick scarring that can occur with pediatric burns. Kids heal much faster than adults, but then don’t “stop” healing causing the scars to thicken.  We left our home at 5am. Krew asked, “why does this Dr. want to see me in the dark?” He was very pleasant this morning. Getting even more people to adore him.  The Dr. said not to expect much visual change until 3-4 rounds of the treatment. This treatment will also help to reduce pain and itching. Krew wakes up most nights crying that he’s so itchy. This is after layers of lotion and anti-itching medication.  These treatments aren’t covered by surgery, because they are “cosmetic”. I just can’t tell you how unfortunate that is.  Todays treatment will be on his shoulders and forearms stopping at the wrist. Depending on how well it goes on his arms will determine if we s...

Whitney (9:30am PST, Thursday, 4/28/22) Both eyes are open and the graft on her forehead is looking great! We are so happy with how it turned out. The week of bedrest proved to be challenging for Pepper. Her spirits were a little low and she was feeling a bit sad this week. But as soon as she was able to get back up she was back at it! We had a lovely conversation last night about body image and some of the changes she will be experiencing. She is very accepting, and she knows I mean really knows beauty comes from within. She is just wise beyond her years! We are headed into the shower this morning, we would love any last minute good vibes and prayers for Pepper. They will be taking off everything on her body to see how the grafts took and make sure there’s no infection.

Whitney Copeland (8:15am PST, Tuesday, 4/26/22) We are continually bombarded by helping hands, happy smiles, encouraging words and open hearts. It’s sometimes so overwhelming. But in the best way. Like a full to the brim after thanksgiving dinner feeling. So I’m needing to open up and publicly share my thanks. Our thanks. Some of these won’t make since you any of you, but writing them down will help me to never forget the cherished moments I’ve shared with other humans. Most complete strangers. This long list is a summary of all the people who have loved on us.  To the ER Dr. who held my face in his hands and told me to prepare myself before I saw my hurt family members in the ER in St. George. He put his arm around me and walked to each room from bedside to bedside with me. I don’t know your name. But I love you.  To the beautiful life flight woman who re-assured me that Pepper was her entire world for the next 2 hours that she was going to be life flighted to UMC. I believed...

Whitney (12:19pm PST, Friday, 4/22/22) Pepper is doing well! The surgery was so long, it lasted 6.5 hours. She had 2 doctors working on her at once. The eye brow release surgery was done to her right eye. It will be sewn shut for 5 days (Tuesday). Her forehead was grafted and had a bolster to hold the graft on also for 5 days.  Her chest/neck area has been grafted along with her left shoulder and upper arm. She also had a small area on her right hip that was grafted. The area on her legs was too deep as anticipated. Integra (derived from shark cartilage) was placed on both areas on the shin. It is an integrative skin substitute and the hope is it will allow the skin to fill in and heal on its own. Her back was sprayed with re-cell. Essentially, her own skin in a spray can.  All of the grafts were meticulously sewn on. In the past they have been stapled. The Dr. That was on yesterday wanted to sew them this time to ensure the grafts success.   Pepper won’t have a seda...

Whitney (6:47pm PST, Wednesday 4/20/22) Surgery #35 tomorrow.  Plastics: graft to her forehead, cheek and an eyebrow release surgery. The reverse of the one she’s already had, to the top eyelid, (same Kyle will have on May 6th). As of right now planned for right eye, but we are staying open to the possibility that it may be both. They will decide during surgery. We try to learn from our past. Burn: all cadaver skin will come off. From what we saw during the shower today, her right chest/neck and left shoulder look ready to graft. The legs need more time to fill in the deep wounds that were left when the infection was cut out. Most likely a skin substitute will be added to the legs tomorrow, grafts when ready.  Tonight we watch The Man from Snowy River and eat root beer floats!

Addey Kerr (Pepper's aunt, 10:00am MST, Easter Sunday, 4/17/22) A few weeks ago, I sat at my kitchen table finishing some homework. As I finished my assignments I began to scroll through my google photos. The pictures first made me laugh and then I came across one that made my heart hurt and I felt emotions stir inside of me. I do not feel anger often but that's what I identified this feeling as. It filled my chest with lots of pressure and tears began to fill my eyes. It was a beautiful photograph of me and my sweet niece Pepper. It had been taken about a year ago and I felt this anger because it took me a minute to recognize her as my Pepper. I hated that I recognized her face covered in scars and open wounds more than I did without now. I didn’t even know who I was angry with as I sat and sobbed. I wasn’t mad at God or at anyone in particular I was just mad that this was our situation. In my frustration and through my tears, I began to pray. I asked God why, why this happene...

 Whitney (6:28pm PST, Sunday, 4/17/22) Reunited after 111 days of being apart. Happy Easter! We feel so blessed.

Whitney (10:39pm PST, Tuesday 4/12/22) More bacteria. More scrubbing. More antibiotics. More debridement. More pain. More set backs. Pepper continues to push forward.  The burn team is wanting to stay ahead of the bacteria. The grafts that are on her body are fragile, and the bacteria can go from the inside and work it’s way to the surface. Making the current grafts on her body at risk. We are in graft survival mode. Pepper will have a shower, surgery, or sedated dressing change everyday for about a week. At this point she has less than 5% of area to cover.  We are doing our best to keep her spirits up and keep her moving. Surgery and shower days are the hardest, it takes a few hours to get her warmed back up, comfortable, and weaned off of the anesthesia, which can make her very emotional. Her appetite is still good, and we still take daily orders and enjoy hearing what she’s craving.  More time. More memories. More movies. More reading. More cuddle time. More of Pepper...

Whitney (8:00 AM PST, Friday, 4/8/22) Surgery #33 this morning. We had a great night last night. Pepper wasn’t feeling up to walking when OT came around at 2pm. But made a deal with herself to get up before she went to bed. So at 8pm she got up and walked to the scale and back to her bed. About 40ft total. So proud of her, because when 8pm rolled around she didn’t want to walk at that time either. After, we watched The Help and had root beer floats.  Making memories with my girl. Doesn’t she look beautiful in pink?! Edit: the spot on her forehead is a deep purple. It is a solution that disinfects and forms a “clean scab” to promote healing. It will be addressed in todays surgery.

Whitney (6:07pm PST, Monday, 4/4/22) We stretch chin, neck, arms, hands, fingers, legs & feet everyday. Working hard not to contract. This will be a full time job when she comes home, adding to our need to rub Krew.  Grafts tentatively penciled in for her forehead maybe later this week. No plan as of yet for the next burn surgery.  The graft on her right breast/neck didn’t take again, for the second time. It is also growing bacteria. As a result she has a fever this afternoon.  When they opened her dressings yesterday (day 4 after surgery) the grafts looked very wet and the Dr. was not pleased. Some of the grafts on her legs took ok. One on her left shin isn’t looking very good. They took a sample of that area on her shin today to check for bacteria.  She has a really bad tummy ache today and diarrhea, nauseous and no appetite. I think she may have a tummy bug.  A good friend we made on the unit with a similar injury was discharged today. We are so happy for...

Whitney (1:53pm PST, Sunday, 4/3/22) I put some before and after pictures together. Kyle & I never got to see the bus after the accident. It was rolled away to a junk yard. Just a pile of junk. No story. No memory. No feelings. I wish I could see it one more time. Grab the license plate or scrap a piece of salvaged something. Just for memory. Just to touch. Something tangible to put to our dreams.  Kyle & I cried hard last night. Ugly raw crying. We just held each other and sobbed. We miss our bus. We miss our son’s face. We miss being together. We miss Pepper’s contagious spirit. We miss it all. Everything.  I personally have to look at previous pictures of Krew. I can’t remember him. It’s cruel. I have to stop doing it, but I can’t. There’s this video, taken just a few days before the fire. The kids are all wrestling their dad on the floor of the bus. The laughing, the giggles and the happy faces in the video just make my heart swell.  There is a plan. Right? We...

Whitney (4:40pm PST, Saturday, 4/2/22) Kyle received his compression gloves and he really likes them! He kept hitting his knuckles on various things and large sores would appear, taking days to heal.  Krew got his new blue face mask and vest that cover  both arms all the way down to fingertip. It has silicone on the inside which makes it very difficult to put on and take off. He needs to have lotion spread across his body before we can slide them on. He tolerated ok the first day, but in the middle of the night woke up in a panic. He kept asking Kyle to make his bed bigger and to get him out. He was claustrophobic and it was just so sad. So we decided to coax him in and took off both for the night. Day 2 & 3 he wore the vest the entire day. We slid it off to take a bath and he said, “eww that shirt stinks” ha! It sure makes his little body sweat but the compression it gave him was great!  It takes about 20 minutes to get the full gig on.  Kyle & Krew have ano...

Whitney (7:42am PST, Wednesday, 3/30/22) Caught up on some reading last night. Pepper is a HUGE keeper of the lost cities fan. I lost a bet and now I get to read them out loud with her. The whole 9 book series! I’m so lucky to get this experience with her. She’s off to surgery #31 this morning. Covering what’s left on the front of her body. Go pepper go!! The Dr. mentioned we are potentially looking at only 2 more surgeries during our hospital stay, after today.

Whitney (7pm PST, Monday, 3/28/22) This week has been an emotional roller coaster, weaning off meds, starting new ones, making for one emotional girl. With the lack of surgeries and procedures she has been hitting OT hard this week.  The plastic surgeon removed the last bandage from her face and decided it looks so good she wanted to wait until this week to decide if she needed grafts! We haven’t heard an update from Plastics yet but as of right now it’s looking really good that she may not have to have her face grafted. The last synthetic material they put on her face was actually from umbilical cord. That is just so cool! Full of stem cells and nutrients, creating the perfect wound bed for new skin to grow.  Pepper continues to work hard and some days are better than others, and  today was a good day. Today she’s walked into the hall and back, stood at bedside while we changed her diaper, sat on the edge of her bed for an hour and a half, and while sitting has fed herse...

Whitney (3:00pm PST, Friday 3/18/22) The long awaited Pepper update! Surgery #31 this morning. Her left shoulder was re-grafted, because of the previous infection that graft did not take. They also did a large portion around her left knee. They took skin from her stomach for these areas this time. All cadaver skin was removed, and replaced with a skin substitute.  Her face’s healing has slowed significantly. So they have decided to graft it, today it was scrubbed and a skin substitute placed to prepare for a graft hopefully end of next week, along with the rest of her legs. If all goes as planned, Pepper should be 100% covered in her own skin grafts by the end of next week. This is HUGE.  Her left eye was opened on Wednesday and her right was opened today during surgery. It was so good to see those big blue eyes this morning. Her spirit is doing ok. She’s quiet and a little reserved, but overall when not in pain, in good spirits. They left her arms and hands (other than left s...

 Kyle (6:10pm PST, Wednesday, 3/16/22) Krew and Emree cuddling asleep. The innocence and love of children seems to heal all wounds. A child's laugh is contagious and brightens every heart around. Looking at these two loving one another.. all I can say is I love them. Deeply. I am a Dad and I enjoy it immensely. I'm extraordinarily grateful God granted me the ability to run through fire to rescue Pepper and Krew. I acknowledge it could have been…. well, much worse. Whitney, Kyle, Pepper, Kade, Emree, Krew, and Hazel. I'm grateful we are all alive. I want to extend love to all of you who are going through tragedy... keep your heart in the light. I am grateful for my wife who is willing and able to take on enormous stress and responsibility while also being able to nurture and love her family with grace. It's true, moms just make everything feel better and we all know it. I can run through flames, but don't ask me to do what she is doing. it's incredible and divine...

Whitney (11:00pm PST, Friday 3/11/22) Our sweet girl is having a difficult day/evening. Surprise surgery #30 this morning, the plastics team wanted to work on her eyes. They aren’t closing all the way when she falls asleep. We originally thought they were just doing 1 eye, but came back with both sewn shut. She was angry. Very angry. Calm now, lots of pain and anxiety, but resting. This was the same surgery Kyle had done, the gauze will come off and she will be able to see in 3-5 days. Extra prayers on her behalf!

Whitney (9:16pm, Friday 3/11/22) I was driving to the hospital to be with Pepper this morning and I couldn’t help but feel like a weary traveler. Tired, used up, emotionally spent, and feelings of sadness as I left 3 children to be with the other. That’s hard for me. From the very beginning I just wanted to gather all my chicks like a mother hen and keep them safely under my wing and protect them all. Providing the unique nurturing abilities that have grown with me the last 12 years of being a mother.  When I was little, still in grade school and the question would arise, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I always answered with a straightforward answer. A mom! I was once told that wasn’t a real answer and that I must pick something else.  I always stuck with my original answer, a mom!  Little did I know that it would be one of the hardest  most challenging roles I would ever willingly carry out. Exhaustion has taken on a whole new level I didn’t think possib...

Whitney (8:35am PST, Wednesday 3/9/22) The love between these two is so real! Pepper was over the moon excited to have Kade spend time with her. He was so sweet feeding her lunch, laughing about old memories, talking about their obsession with Harry Potter (Kade is on book 5), and playing a trivia game. Laughter and smiles are good to the soul. I love that they love each other. Pepper has surgery #29 this morning. Her nerves and anxiety are ever increasing with each procedure. Please pray for her peace and comfort.

Whitney (4:30pm, PST, Monday 3/7/22) Life has taken on such a new level of busy! 6-8 appointments a week for Kyle & Krew. A procedure or surgery everyday at the hospital for Pepper. Busy busy!!  This last Friday was so great meeting the flight crews that helped save our family. Pepper also had the opportunity to meet 2 out of the 3 crew members that got her safely here. It was so special and I will never forget some of the special things said. One member of Peppers’s flight Crew: “I remember how beautiful your eyes were that night, it was one of the first things I noticed. I’m so grateful that I get to look at those beautiful eyes today!”  Krew has really leapt forward since his siblings are now home. It has given him an excuse to forget about his sore body and just play! OT & PT two times each a week. Going well! His compression garments for his arms have been ordered! Prosthetics are still in the early process of being prescribed. We are excited to get those on him a...

Kyle (10:19pm PST, Thursday 3/3/22) Pepper slowly came out of her paralysis yesterday and had her breathing tube removed this morning. Her grafts look great! Her body seems to be accepting them well. She's currently on A LOT of medications to control infection and allow her to be as comfortable as safely possible. She is showing signs of withdrawal from the drugs she was on during paralysis, but that will work it’s way out within the day.  I'm sitting next to her now and she's watching a show waiting for her Olive Garden dinner to arrive. Whitney and I are going to have a HUGE dinner with her. She hasn't eaten in 5 days and can’t wait!  Krew's hands are tight, but we're massaging them. We were able to get him into a prosthetics doctor who will create splints to slowly correct them over time. Pray for his hands. He needs a little miracle.  Kade and Emree joined us on Monday, it felt incredible to be reunited. We made sure to have a few family activities lined up ...

Whitney (5:50 PST, Sunday 2/27/22) I love the Sabbath. I love that it is slow and that I can take time to cuddle my boy. We will be rejoined with Kade & Emree tomorrow! Sorry Krew you’re no longer an only child. I have my bet on him not caring and enjoying the entertainment from siblings. Pepper is still peaceful and healing.

Whitney (11:33pm PST, Friday, 2/25/22) Prone, intubated, feeding tube, arterial line, central line, catheter, and eyes sewn shut. This is how Pepper will be for 4-5 days. My mommy heart could barely take it. She’s in really good hands. They were able to graft her entire back and both hands. She will have bedside dressing changes everyday. Grateful for all the medical staff that attended her today. They stood over her body for 5 long hours in the operating room. Prayers for Pepper! And for mom & dad. This is hard.

Kyle (4:30pm PST, Thursday, 2/24/22) Krew’s hands are beginning to tighten due to his hand grafts. We are taking him to a hand specialist, but appointments are weeks out. We are hopeful he’ll get the help he needs so his hands work properly as he grows through life. We massage and stretch them everyday.  Other than that, he’s a four year old boy who sometimes forgets he’s hurt and plays like nothing happened. He’s beginning to walk better each day and has started to bend over to pick things up. It’s good to see him progressing. Pepper is going into surgery tomorrow to get her hands and entire back grafted… huge deal. After the surgery she’ll be medically paralyzed (coma) for 4-5 days while she lay prone in bed.  She’s been fighting infection after infection and is finally prepared for grafts. She has only so much remaining skin to use for grafts. This is a pivotal moment for her and the grafts MUST work. Prayers for Pep. Today she had a big breakthrough… she stood up and hugge...

Whitney (10:14am PST, Wednesday, 2/23/22) Had a surprise visit from Aunt Addey (my youngest sister). The fun unmarried Aunt. They spent the night together and Addey introduced her to Hannah Montana. They watched 7 episodes that night.  Pepper’s bacteria count continues to be a roller coaster and looks good one moment, and then something else pops up. She’s currently in surgery #26. They will be scrubbing and taking cultures of everything. She currently has cadaver skin over her entire back, prepping her for a skin graft.  She has had 3 showers the last 3 days. She is getting used to having them and her recovery time is improving with each one. We have a system down and we are getting really good at knowing how to best get her comfortable as quickly as possible.  She was able to stand at the edge of her bed the other day while her dad held her there for about 3 minutes. Making it the most touch she has received in one moment since the accident. I’m sure it felt wonderful! ...