Josh full steam ahead for Run Melbourne goal
It was only recently that Josh Morrow became fond of running. It wasn’t something that he had considered before and, after being involved in an accident and ending up with burns to 25 per cent of his body in 2017, the prospect of that seemed even further away.
But now he has a goal – and is running towards it at full steam – with it due to be fulfilled at Sunday’s Run Melbourne event. An event that represents something much greater: recognition of his amazing recovery and chance to demonstrate his gratitude to The Alfred.
How far the run is and the amount of time it will take to complete is almost irrelevant to Josh – the fact that he is in a position to be able to do it means everything in itself.
The 27-year-old tunneller was at a party in the bush about 20 minutes’ drive from his home town of Warragul. The fun night turned tragic when somebody threw a can of spray paint into the fire. Josh, not knowing about the can, went close to the fire – the ensuing explosion resulted in burns to half his face, both his hands and severe burns to both legs.
Immediately driven to Warragul Hospital by a friend, he spent “a couple of hours” in emergency before being taken by ambulance to The Alfred, about 100km away.
After being tested to determine what surgery was needed, Josh was rushed in for emergency surgery the next morning, where he received skin grafts to one whole leg and artificial skin grafts to the rest of his body.
This was followed by a dressing change surgery two days later, but a bad reaction to that procedure resulted in things taking a turn for the worse. Overnight his heart rate rocketed to more than 240, with a temperature of above 41 degrees.
“That wasn’t too flash,” he said. “After that, my legs were strapped for a week to let the skin grafts take. I wasn’t to get out of bed, or even move, for a week.”
He then had to re-learn how to use his hands and feet once again.
“It was weird not knowing how to use my hands again. It started to come back quickly, but it hurt pretty bad,” Josh said.
At The Alfred for two weeks as a high-risk patient, this was followed by returning home to Warragul where, for a month, he had a nurse every day. He then took part in a 12-week physiotherapy program where he had to learn how to use his hands again.
He also received three rounds of steroid injections in his legs to try and stop the pain over the next year, while also wearing compression pants for 18 months after the accident.
Run Melbourne will be Josh’s first major run. After tearing his shoulder at the gym, he decided to start running instead. Seeing The Alfred team advertised, he thought it was a great idea to use the chance “to give back a little bit”.
“This will be my first ever running race and a goal of mine for the year was to run 10km for the first time, so I figured it was fitting,” he said.
“My focus is on supporting the burns unit and all the staff and patients that go through it.”
To read more about Josh’s journey, and to support him and The Alfred, please visit his fundraising page.
