My friend woke to her son screaming at 4am the morning after he got home, because he was literally stuck to his bed. She had to gently take the pillow out of the pillow case and then with his pillow case and sheet still stuck to him, had to put him in the shower and soak them off. He then had to go to the hospital to have his burns treated and yesterday was his second visit to have his dressings removed, the skin shaved off and then re-dressed. This poor boy has been unable to lie down all week and has barely slept and has been in A LOT of pain.

I wanted to share his story here just to let others know the dangers of the sun and how important it is to make sure your kids have the right protection in the sun - and never rely on others to care for them as you would care for them yourselves.

Here are some photos and the email I received from my friend yesterday.

Hi Everyone,

These are pictures of my 12 year old son today. He stayed at a friend's house on the weekend. Sunday afternoon he came home and as parents we got the shock of our lives. He had been taken to the beach on Sat, 41 degrees, for three hours, no shirt, no sunscreen!! He went to his friends for the weekend to go to the basketball on Sat night, but was taken to the beach on Sat for three hours, 11-2pm.

My son since birth has always worn a rashie, and with his fair skin has always applied sunscreen.

His reason for taking off his shirt, was that he was wearing the one he wanted to wear to the basketball, and the adult he was with did not choose to make him wear his shirt or take sunscreen to the beach....both idiots!!!!

I guess I just want to let everyone know of my sons condition and remind everybody to SLIP, SLOP, SLAP, SEEK, & SLIDE.

Although we educate our children constantly about this, they can still do the wrong thing when we are not with them, and you cannot rely on other adults that are with them either.

With the help of "happy gas" today my son had a layer of skin shaved off his back, and now he is in the next stage of recovery.

On a positive note, he is not going to need any skin grafts, which was the news I was praying for today.

Thank you for reading,
Please talk to your children about how my son has learnt a lesson the hard way.
Cheers,

I asked my friend if I could put her sons story on my site to share his experience and send the message to others. She asked that I not mention names as he is a bit sensitive about it all - understandably for a 12 year old.

Adelaide has just experienced one of the worst (if not the worst) heatwaves ever with temperatures over 40 degrees and up to 45.7 (104 to 114 fahrenheit) for a week. There are a number of people in the burns unit in Adelaide hospital as a result of sunburn. There have been over 60 sudden deaths during that week, which although not proven they are believed to be heat related.

We lost 2 of our pet rats and my sons friend lost 2 pet birds due to the heat and I can't imagine how many other people have lots their beloved pets during the heat last week.

REMEMBER - when it is this hot - stay inside in an airconditioned room. If you don't have air conditioning or a good fan (or power) then go and visit and stay with someone that has. Don't feel like you are imposing - it is better to impose on family or friends, than to suffer and even die because of the heat.

REMEMBER - wear sunscreen and lather your kids with sunscreen. Make them wear hats and shirts and take all precautions necessary to keep them sun safe.

REMEMBER - to keep an eye on your pets. Make sure they have shade and cold water - trust me their water heats up quickly. If they are in a cage, put a wet towel over the cage - this gives them shade as well as helps to keep the area cool.

Thanks for reading - and hopefully this heat will be over soon.

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