ST PAUL, Minn. - Kenny Pecarina’s baby photos are still hard to look at, taken 16 years ago when a car fire sent him to a burn unit for six weeks.
His injuries were so painful, they haunted him for years.
“He wouldn't look at me, he would barely talk,” said Mikki Rothbauer, a Regions Hospital psychotherapist who met Kenny when he was 5. “We laugh now that he gives me a full hug and he has grown to be a wonderful young man.”
Now that young man is back giving 150 of what he calls "comfort bags" to other kids with burns. Kenny raised money to buy the bags and everything in them: stuffed animals and puzzles, cards and coloring books, things he hopes will help children at Regions Hospital just as they once helped him.
“They've given me so much,” he said, “And this is one of the ways that I could repay.”
And it's not the only way. Kenny is now a thriving teenager who's earned a karate black belt and will soon be an Eagle Scout, milestones his mom says inspire others.
“There is hope, and you can do great things,” said Jenny Pecarina, Kenny’s mother. “Just because you have a burn injury doesn't mean you can't do whatever you set your mind to.”
Kenny set his mind to children in pain, giving both the bags and a promise that they too will heal.
“Coming from someone who has experienced it, this is the greatest gift he can give,” Rothbauer said.