What was meant to be a fun trip for this family to Oregon ended in disaster due to a careless act by others on the beach.
Heather Switzer was with her three daughters on a beach by the Oregon coast, and they were looking forward to having a good time.
One of her children, a little toddler named Kalani, was attempting to get her kite up into the air.
As she wandered around, she stumbled and her feet went sinking straight into the sand.
That’s when Kalani let out a horrifying scream.
Switzer rushed to her, picking her up and cradling her, and she saw a terrible sight.
The skin on the base of Kalani’s feet was practically falling off.
She rushed her daughter into the bathroom so they could get to some clean water and dialed 911.
Switzer’s thoughts as she ran to help her daughter were confused.
At first, she thought that the sand had been too hot for her daughter, but then she realized that it was only 63 degrees out and the sun wasn’t out – in fact, the weather was overcast.
Beneath her own feet, the sand felt cool.
Once Kalani was taken to a doctor, the staff at the hospital told Switzer that this was the third young child that they’d treated because of a burn to the feet.
They expanded on that, explaining that many people who build fires on the beach cover up the embers or douse it out with sand before leaving.
This means that these hot embers are hidden beneath the sand, resulting in a burning trap for kids and adults alike.
Kalani had likely accidentally walked on a fire that had just been covered, and the windiness of the day meant that the smoke from the fire hadn’t been visible.
Switzer then took to Facebook to share the story and express her concern over these events.
She also wanted to put out a warning to anyone else who would be spending time at the beach, especially parents.
On top of that, her post included a plea for anyone covering their fires to douse them out with water, not by tossing sand on them, as many kids would be jumping around in the sand and could get hurt.
Switzer also included some burn advice for those who may find themselves in the same situation she did.
She said that while most people’s gut instinct may be to rush to the easily available ocean and dunk the burned area in the water, this could actually do more harm than good.
Given all the bacteria that ocean water can contain, it’s simply not a safe idea.
A burn should be treated like an open wound and she wouldn’t want any ocean bacteria entering the bloodstream through a burn.
Instead, Switzer recommends going to find clean water to treat the burn as you would do for an open wound.
Kalani has been healing well and Switzer hopes that her post, which has been shared over 65,000 times, will raise awareness that can prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
