A man who became a
"human fireball"
when he was electrocuted by an
11,000-volt discharge
recounted how the dramatic situation was and his return to life after being
dead for several minutes
.
Darren Harris, 29, from the UK
, had been exploring the city and collecting scrap metal from an
abandoned steel factory
in Wolverhampton, when he came across an electricity box in November 2020.
He was electrocuted in an abandoned factory
Assuming it was totally abandoned and disused as the building was set to be demolished, he had no worse idea than to
accidentally put his hand on a live copper line
and was instantly
"catapulted" by the high voltage
.
Darren Harris before the accident in an abandoned factory.
In what is still a miraculous way, Darren regained consciousness and managed
to flag down an ambulance that happened to be passing by.
Eighteen months later, doctors have dubbed him
a "medical miracle"
after
surviving third-degree burns to 47 percent of his body
, which left exposed bone in both arms.
Miracle and return to life
A shocking part of the young man's story has to do with the moment when he lay dead on the ground.
She remembers
the exact moment when he came back to life and saw his whole body on fire.
"I put my hand on the bar and my body was catapulted across the room. And as they say, my life flashed before my eyes and I was dead for a few minutes," Darren told the
Mirror
.
"I don't know what brought me back, but I remember waking up and
my whole body was on fire
, it was a human fireball," he describes.
And she adds shudderingly: "I ran for my life and somehow managed to
climb a 10-foot-high fence
without knowing the damage my body already had."
"My forearms were completely debrided,
I could see down to the bone
. I had flaps on my face and my trachea was exposed," he says about his devastating image.
Darren Harris shows off his body today.
"Life gave me another chance.
He was standing on the side of the road for a couple of minutes until an ambulance turned the corner and dove in front of the vehicle, horror movie style.
"The next thing I remember is waking up 27 days later
," he reveals.
In-hospital rehabilitation
Darren was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where
he was placed in an induced coma
while doctors battled his injuries, including
multiple organ failure and sepsis
.
In total he
underwent 23 surgeries
including skin grafts, a craniotomy to relieve pressure from his brain, and a pioneering operation to apply artificial skin, known as the
Biodegradable Temporising Matrix
, to his burns.
“
The doctors and nurses couldn't believe it
, I even survived the initial injury, despite the fact that I stopped a passing ambulance and then survived grueling surgeries,” says Darren, who says the surgeons confided in him that they “never they had seen something like this and that there was one case in a million".
Harris was looking for scrap metal in an abandoned factory when he was electrocuted.
Aftermath and present
As a result of his burns, Darren
was left without a nose or ears
.
He also
lost mobility in both hands
, leaving him unable to work.
Disfigured by his injuries, Darren
struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts
, but says he realized he had been given a "second chance".
Now he has launched a
GoFundMe
to pay for a pioneering surgery to
3D print a reconstruction of his ears
using his stem cells.
"I have been through the worst pain of my entire life, I can't even describe it, and I was left in a terrible state. I find it
difficult to go out and socialize
, I am self-conscious about my appearance and I thought about killing myself during my recovery," he admits with deep pain.
However, it clicked.
She realized that the doctors and nurses spent so much time saving his life that he finally decided to waste it.
"Life gave me a second chance and I am grateful to be here. I want my story to be inspiring for people and that they can overcome the most difficult thing in their lives and still get ahead," he launches as a hopeful message.