SALT LAKE CITY — A Riverton mother of nine is hospitalized after an accident at her home left her with third-degree burns on her face, chest, arms and ankles.
Jordan Ortiz has been engaged to Angelica Reed for a little more than a year.
Ortiz said he met his soon-to-be wife in what he describes as a magical way.
"I met her at daycare where she was taking her kids and I was taking my kids at the time, and it was just kind of like love at first sight," he said.
Their blended family includes Ortiz's five children, Reed's three kids, and one baby girl they had together. Their children range in age from 15 years old to as young as under a year old.
"I'm thankful for everything she does for me, my kids, just everything. She's an amazing woman," said Ortiz.
Ortiz said last weekend was like any other, with food and even preparations for Christmas next month. He said his fianceé went downstairs to go outside and dump the oil she cooked with.
"She slipped and fell and all I heard was a 'boom, boom,' and just loud screaming, frantic, like terrible screaming that you don't want to hear," said Ortiz.
That cooking oil ended up spilling on Reed.
"I rushed her upstairs in the bathroom and just started running cold water on her, trying to get her to calm down," said Ortiz.
Ortiz rushed her to Riverton Hospital. She would eventually be transported to the burn unit at University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City.
Reed has third-degree burns on 15 percent of her body.
It was something that came as a shock to Mindy Little Brown, Reed's friend and manager at work.
"It just broke me. Was really hard to see Angelica in that kind of state because... she's the first one to laugh at a joke and she laughs the loudest, and it's contagious," said Brown.
Although their Thanksgiving won't go as planned this year, Ortiz said his fianceé is continuing to make progress in her recovery. Reed was set to have her second skin graft surgery on Monday.
"We're being optimistic and keeping our prayers for her well-being, and hopefully this is the last surgery that she'll have to go through," said Ortiz.
A GoFundMe campaign has been started to help the family with medical expenses.
Ortiz is hoping Reed will be able to come home from the hospital in time to celebrate their daughter's first birthday on Dec. 3.
