Boy, 8, electrocuted after his necklace got caught in gap between socket and charger plug as he slept
A Kansas boy was left with excruciating burns after his chain necklace electrocuted him when it got caught between his phone charger by his bed and an extension chord.
Lorenzo Lopez, 8, was almost killed in the freak accident on November 20, and doctors said only his quick thinking to pull the necklace off saved his life.
The young boy told KWCH from his hospital bed that he ‘thought I was going to die’, and described the moment he was electrocuted as ‘chaos.’
His mother Kourtney Pendleton said the evening started like any other, but after she put her son to bed he ‘rolled over in his sleep.’
She said Lorenzo’s chain ‘just happened to fall in between where the gap was on the extension cord and the charger, which is what shocked him’, and the sparks set his shirt on fire.
Lorenzo said the shock was followed by searing heat on his neck, which jolted him out of bed while his shirt was still ablaze, before he pulled the necklace off.
After his mom raced him to hospital, she said she was stunned to be told by doctors that her son almost lost his life to the accident.
‘(At the hospital) the lady had told him, had he not pulled that chain off, he would have been electrocuted to death,’ she recalled. ‘So he basically saved his own life.’
Kansas boy Lorenzo Lopez, 8, was left with excruciating burns after his chain necklace electrocuted him when it got caught between his phone charger by his bed and an extension chord
Pendleton shared images to social media showing Lorenzo with severe burns across his torso, including a deep singe where the chain necklace burned his neck.
She wrote that her son was suffering ‘excruciating pain’ from the burns, and said ‘what he’s going through I would never wish on anyone.’
In a GoFundMe set up to help pay his medical bills, Pendleton said doctors expect Lorenzo would have to remain in hospital for at least two weeks to recover.
His recovery included needing a skin graft surgery, and Pendleton said surgeons would take skin from his scalp, legs and feet for the procedure.
‘This is taking quite an emotional toll on him but he’s fighting hard like the tough, brave little boy he is — a true survivor,’ she wrote.
Pendleton signed off the fundraiser with a warning to other parents, saying ‘this was a terrifying, freak accident that could have happened to anyone.’
‘Parents — please, please don’t let your kids sleep with electronics or charging cords on their bed. It’s not worth the risk.’
Lorenzo’s mother Kourtney Pendleton said she was stunned to be told by doctors that her son almost lost his life to the accident, but his quick thinking to pull the necklace off saved his life
Lorenzo said he hopes his story will prevent a similar freak accident from happening to any other kids, as his mother described it as ‘a terrifying, freak accident that could have happened to anyone’
In an update to the fundraiser on November 28, Pendleton said that Lorenzo’s skin graft surgery was a success, but he was left ‘in a lot of pain.’
‘He’s fighting through every moment with so much courage. This has been such a heavy and emotional journey, but he’s holding on with a strength that inspires all of us,’ she wrote.
Lorenzo told KWCH that he hopes his story will prevent a similar freak accident from happening to any other kids.
‘I just want to save some lives,’ he said.
