HALL COUNTY, Ga. — It could be a year before a family recovers after their boat exploded on Lake Lanier on July 4.
The mother and most of her children are in the hospital suffering from third-degree burns.
The wife and mother in this family was in surgery Wednesday afternoon. She has burns on her arms and her face. She is getting skin grafts for her injuries.
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It’s hard for them to still wrap their heads around how a beautiful holiday at the lake ended in disaster.
“It turned into a nightmare,” said Kedrick Perkins.
He told that when it was time to leave, he couldn’t start his boat.
“I wanted to try to crank it one more time before we towed it. Turned it over. Boom!” Perkins said. “Everything went so fast.”
On the boat with Kedrick were his wife and their five children.
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After the explosion, they rushed to get everyone on board away from the flames and onto the boat there to tow them.
Once on shore, the 10-year-old was airlifted, and paramedics drove the others to Grady Memorial Hospital, where Perkins said his wife and four of the children remain.
The family is struggling to heal from their physical and mental wounds.
“When Faith finally woke up and saw her face, the first thing she told the doctors is she wished she would’ve died. She didn’t want to be here,” cousin Demeitrice Collins said. “We have to take it a step at a time and just be there for her.”
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Perkins’ boat wasn’t the only one that exploded this holiday weekend. Another boat exploded on Lake Nottely in Union County the same day, injuring three members of another family.
Both families are recovering at Grady’s burn unit, where they’ve connected.
“That’s my brother now. We’re talking. He’s showing me so much support, so I got a brother out the deal,” Perkins said. “I went the other day to shake his hand, and he looked at my hand, and he was like, ‘No, we hug. We hug.’”
Perkins’ family has a long road ahead. They’re raising money through a GoFundMe page. He’s trying to support his family after what he said was the worst day of their lives.
“Just pray for us. Pray for us,” Perkins said.
Perkins said he still doesn’t know what caused the boat to explode.
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