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Paramedic reunited with burn patient youth years later

Posted at 4:32 PM, Oct 17, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-17 18:33:36-04

SALT LAKE CITY – A firefighter was reunited with a boy he helped who suffered from severe burns years ago.

Robert Marriott, a Unified Fire Authority Firefighter was a counselor at a camp, when he recognized the scars on a camper named George.

“He stood out to me, and I just could not shake his face,” Marriott said.

George was a camper of the University of Utah’s Burn Camp, which was built to, “help support burn survivors with the personal challenges associated with surviving a burn injury,” the university’s website said.

“The campers were going around, talking about their injuries,” Marriott said. “I thought back to seven years ago, to a call that we had in Big Cottonwood Canyon.”

George was a young boy when he tripped into the hot coals of a fire, while his aunt was trying to put bug spray on him.

“Rob showed up in an ambulance on the way to a practice, and my mom flagged him down and we went to the burn unit,” George said.

When Marriott heard George’s story, he realized who the boy was. They had not seen each other since the day that George was burned, Marriott said.

“With our job we don’t typically see the outcomes or the long term, so to see George now at nine years old, almost ten years old, from a 2 and a half year old in a lot of pain, crying, screaming to who he is now today, such an incredibly young man with so much strength and knowledge; it’s incredibly rewarding,” Marriott said.

Video courtesy University of Utah Health