A Queensland family set off for a year on the road but their journey came to an abrupt halt after their baby boy was severely burnt in a “freak accident”.
Kerrie and Mick Hall planned a long caravan coast trip with their four children from their home in Rockhampton, Queensland, to Tasmania.
The family of six – including four boys, Haedin, 12, Cody, 10, Joel, six, and Hunter, 17 months – got as far as Landsborough. They were set for a trip to Australia Zoo, but it never happened.
“We started the kettle on the caravan stove and Hunter pulled the [oven] door open,” Kerrie Hall told Mamamia.
“As he pulled the door open, the kettle tipped on top of him.”
The caravan’s kitchenette had two hotplates above an oven with a door that opened to the side.
“I automatically ripped off his t-shirt, I screamed for my husband and opened the fridge and started getting water on him,” the Queensland mother said.
“All the kids and Mick came running. We got water on him straight away.”
The parents then rushed baby Hunter to the closest hospital in Caloundra, where he received three hours of treatment before being transferred via ambulance to Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital for surgery.
The 17-month-old had severely burnt 12 per cent of his body. He was in extreme pain and his mother was also in agony.