TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A family is celebrating some good news after a terrifying house fire in Seffner.
The 9-year-old boy rescued by Hillsborough County deputies from his burning home took his first steps since the fire.
Owen Ares is still at Tampa General Hospital and has a long road to recovery.
Owen’s mom shared a video of Owen talking from his hospital bed on Wednesday.
“To see him sitting up now and looking over at me and smiling and just talking, is all I prayed for,” Owen’s mom, Karen McGinnis said.
Last month, Hillsborough County deputies saved Owen’s life.
The dramatic rescue was captured on body camera video, as two deputies talked Owen out of a smoke-filled room, and pulled him to safety through a window.
Owen was rushed to TGH with second and third degree burns to his face and arm, and smoke inhalation.
For days, Owen was sedated and on a ventilator to give his body time to heal.
As he recovers, Owen is starting to talk, and over the weekend his mom shared a video of medical staff helping him take his first steps since the fire.
“I think I speak for all the plastic and burn team that it’s amazing to see,” the Pediatric Trauma Medical Director at Tampa General Hospital Dr. Keith Thatch said. “It’s amazing to see kids recover, how well they recover. There’s a significant amount of trauma both emotionally and physically. I think that his body will go through a lot of recovery, the burn team and plastic team will continue to help him with that and we’ll see. I think right now he’s making strides, literally and so those are always good things.”
McGinnis said Owen hasn’t said much about the fire, but he’s learned a lot about the deputies who saved his life, and plans to meet them when he recovers.
Doctors have not have not set a date for Owen to be released from the hospital.
A fund has been setup to help the family.
