DALLAS — Seventeen-year-old Braycin Parrish is preparing to leave Parkland Hospital in Dallas after a serious electrical accident that occurred while harvesting peanuts in Hamilton, Texas in early October.
The trailer he was hauling came into contact with a power line and the resulting electrical voltage shot through his body — burning his clothes and setting his body on fire, he said.
"The pain at first was pretty bad," Parrish told WFAA from his bed at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. "They had never seen anybody that was hurt severely as bad as me that has lived."
He lost an arm and 60 percent of his body was covered in third-degree burns, he said.
Medical professionals at Parkland Hospital have performed more than a dozen procedures to treat his injuries, he said. Initially, doctors projected he'd need a six-month hospital stay.
Reflecting on his survival, Parrish said, "I really think it was God, he saved my life honestly." He noted that his condition had improved, saying, "Now, I hardly have any pain."
Parrish comes from a family of farmers — the kind of kid born with mud on his boots. His great-grandfather farmed, and so did his dad, so it was only natural that he'd end up on a tractor from a young age. "I can't sit around at the house all day," he said.
Now doctors have cleared him to leave the hospital after two months — not six — on the day after Thanksgiving. While he still has many doctors' appointments in his future, Parrish said he is "feeling really good."
He'll celebrate his 18th birthday shortly after his planned hospital release, looking forward to what he describes as getting "to be free again."
On Saturday, his family plans a benefit event in Hamilton's Circle T arena with roping and a brisket lunch. All proceeds will be donated to his family to help with medical expenses, his dad said.