Chemical burns boy makes full recovery

by Brian Buckley

Friday, June 4, 2004

Sylvie and Gregoire Perron have confirmed that their son Philippe Olivier Fortin, who suffered chemical burns after kayaking in the section of Governor’s Harbour known as Crystal Harbour, has made a full recovery.
“My son has recovered and his hands are now better than expected and there is no permanent discoloration. We are very happy about that.” said Mr Perron.

His wife added: “We’re very grateful to the staff at St Ignatius School for helping our son through his difficult period and for providing a scribe for him to write his exams while he was unable to use his hands.”

On Saturday, 10 April, Philippe, 13, and his friend from Montreal set out in their kayaks in the Crystal Harbour area. When they returned, Mr and Mrs Perron noticed redness on both the boys’ hands. The parents initially thought it might have been a case of sea itch.

However, that night, Olivier awoke in excruciating pain as his hands had the sensation of burning and blisters had appeared.

His parents took him to Chrissie Tomlinson Memorial Hospital where Dr Sidney Ebanks examined the boy.

“Initially I thought the boy’s hands were burned. I could not say at the time exactly what had caused the burn. Through the process of ruling things out and analysing the appearance and condition of his hands, I believed that a chemical agent had caused the boy’s condition,” said Dr Ebanks.

Philippe’s friend suffered first degree burns on his hands and was treated by the doctor.

However Philippe had serious discoloration and lost use of several of his fingers.

“My son had to take vitamin E and to apply special vitamin lotions to his hands. He also underwent one month of physical therapy to regain the full use of his hands and fingers. Still today, when he strains his hands, they become very red,” said Mrs Perron.

The parents did however express disappointment that although their doctor phoned the Department of the Environment the day after their son was treated, they did not hear from DoE officials until 24 April, the day after Cayman Net News ran a story on their son’s incident and condition.

Scott Flaybaugh, Assistant Director for Operations for the Department of Environment, said: “Unfortunately, we did not hear until two weeks after it happened. We did take samples in the area but they were inconclusive.

“It’s a shame we did not get to know because we would have loved to have found out and alerted the public if so needed.”

The family strongly believes that an old boat that had been anchored within nearby mangroves was the source of the chemical. However, when the Department of the Environment arrived, the boat had been moved.

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