Florida Teen Nearly Dies While Making S'mores

Layne Chesney suffered third-degree burns to 95% of her body
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 5, 2018 9:42 AM CST
Florida Teen Nearly Dies While Making S'mores
Layne Chesney, right, and her mother.   (GoFundMe)

A 14-year-old girl suffered third-degree burns to 95% of her body while roasting marshmallows for s'mores on New Year's Eve, and her family is thankful it wasn't worse. The mother of Florida teen Layne Chesney says her daughter was severely injured when a gas can exploded near an outdoor fire at her friend's house before 10pm Sunday, but could have easily died. As Layne was engulfed in flames near Fort Pierce, the friend's "parents ran outside and the father grabbed hold of Layne and tried to use his own body to put out the flames," mom Leigh Chesney tells People. He was severely burned on his chest and stomach—TCPalm reports his wife and 18-year-old son were also injured while trying to put out the fire—"but he did save her life," she says. "If it wasn't for him she would not have made it."

Though Layne was alert and talking when authorities arrived at the scene, doctors initially warned her mother to expect the worst. "The only part of her body that was not burned was the bottom of her feet," she tells CBS News. Layne remains in critical but stable condition at a Miami hospital and will have a long road ahead as she undergoes multiple surgeries to replace 90% of damaged skin, according to a GoFundMe page. In a hopeful update to the GoFundMe page Thursday, Leigh Chesney says that the facial injuries "will heal fine" and that Layne still looks like herself. The page had raised $28,000 for medical expenses as of Friday morning. As for how the explosion happened, it appears that one of the youths, perhaps Layne herself, was attempting to pour gasoline on the dying fire, says her mother. (A boy was severely burned performing a YouTube challenge.)

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