Just getting this today thanks to SportsGrid -- ESPN anchor Hannah Storm suffered 1st degree burns on her face and neck, 2nd degree burns on her chest and hands, singed off both eyebrows, eyelashes, and half of her head hair after a propane tank exploded:
“The award-winning sportscaster and producer was preparing dinner outside her home in Connecticut on the night of Dec. 11 when she noticed the flame on the grill had gone out. She turned off the gas and when she reignited it ‘there was an explosion and a wall of fire came at me.’
‘It was like you see in a movie, it happened in a split-second,’ she said. ‘A neighbor said he thought a tree had fallen through the roof, it was that loud. It blew the doors off the grill.’
With her left hand, she tore off her burning shirt. She tried to use another part of her shirt to extinguish the flames that engulfed her head and chest, while yelling for help. Her 15-year-old daughter, Hannah [really?], called 911 and a computer technician who was working in the house grabbed some ice as Storm tried to cool the burns.”
That was on December 11, 2012. She's recovering:
“Storm was taken by ambulance to the Trauma and Burn Center at Westchester Medical Center and was treated for 24 hours.
‘I didn’t see my face until the next day and you wonder how it’s going to look,’ she said. ‘I was pretty shocked. But my overarching thought was I’ve covered events with military members who have been through a lot worse than me, and they’ve come through. I kept thinking, ‘I can do this. I’m fortunate.’”
Storm, known for creating the Hannah Storm Foundation after her experience with third degree burns due to a laser treatment for a life altering port wine stain over her left eye, plans a Sunday SportsCenter return. She hosted ABC’s New Year's Day telecast of the 2013 Rose Parade with a bandage on her left hand and some hair extensions. (Storm is left handed to boot.)
"The best medicine is being here with you, my friend, for the fifth year in a row," Storm said to co-host Josh Elliott. She also thanked the staff of the Trauma and Burn Center at New York's Westchester Medical Center for helping her recover.
ABC added, "Since the accident, Storm has attended Christmas Eve Mass, but other than that, the trip to California for the 2013 Rose Parade was her first major trip outside since leaving the hospital."
Elliott tweeted this pic with the hashtag, 'Good as New'
Welcome back Hannah.
**Update -- here's photos of Storm's injuries.
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