Inspiration and Hope Comes from a Victim of Severe Burns

From a story that makes most good people wonder why there is such evil in the world comes a lesson that anyone who is burned, injured, or otherwise ill can look to as hope for themselves.

In South Florida back in February, a 10-year-old boy named Victor was deliberately doused with chemicals by his adoptive father and left to die. Fortunately, the boy was spotted in the front seat of his father’s pickup truck by a passerby, who called police. Victor had third-degree burns from the chemicals, and it did not seem likely that he would live.

He spent weeks at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, at first barely conscious but over time responding to treatments and making progress. Almost as important, his mental state was aided by the bonds he made with other patients–and in return, those bonds also aided the psyche of each patient who interacted with Victor while he was in the hospital.

“The boy’s about God. The first thing he told me is, ‘God gave me another chance to live,'” a patient who was in the hospital room a few doors down from Victor told a WSVN television crew. “He also asked me, ‘Why did God put us in this position?’ I told him, ‘It’s not God. It’s some people who do evil things.’ Then victor asked, ‘Why do people do evil things?’ I said, ‘I don’t have the answer to that, but everything that you’re going through, you have to pray.’ And then, the next day, he came up to me and said, ‘I prayed,’ and I said, ‘Just keep praying.'”

The patient says that he and Victor became friends quickly, in part by doing card tricks together. Victor also asked the man if he played football. “I said, ‘Yeah, I used to play football in college.’ He replied, ‘You’re a big guy.’ And then, one of the nurses came by and said, ‘You could be Victor’s bodyguard.'” This made Victor smile.

Many in South Florida have been praying for Victor’s recovery, and the video that WSVN obtained shows a small glimpse into his life as he recovers from the abuse he suffered. In the cell-phone video shot by another patient, Victor can be seen rolling on a skateboard down a hallway in the hospital. Victor is trying to make friends and find normalcy in the midst of the continuing medical treatment and other chaos in his life, now that he is out of the hospital.

But Victor’s positive spirit has helped not just him, but those around him. “I think that God put me in the hospital for a reason to show me that somebody else could have something worse than you in your life,” said the patient who befriended Victor. “I think the abuse was horrible because he’s so innocent. Why would somebody do something to this young boy that is so loving? All Victor did was make me smile.”

To read more about this story, and to see the video of Victor, click here.