Friends, family and co-workers brought their appetites – and their wallets -- to the Kendall County Courthouse last Wednesday.
Sheriff’s office employees flipped burgers, 300 of them, on a grill set up outside a rear courthouse door for a fundraiser for Kendall County animal control officer Jody Dicks, who was burned in an accident earlier this year.
Dicks, in his 10th year as a county animal control officer, was severely burned in an accident at his home May 13.
“I was going out to get a bunch of stuff done
Kendall County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Cody Neal (left) flips a new round of hamburgers at a Sept. 13 fundraiser for burn victim Jody Dicks (center), a county animal control officer. Sheriff Al Auxier dropped by to grab a burger and give best wishes to his injured worker. Staff Photo by Jeff B. Flinn.
… the day before Mother’s Day,” Dicks said. “I was burning some brush at the house and … sometimes, accidents happen.”
Dicks suffered second-degree superficial flash burns over 15 percent of his body – his legs, arms, “around the full circumference of my legs, from ankle to knee.”
“They decided not to (skin) graph,” he said. “Because of the burns going all the way around (the legs), they would have had to take so much (skin) from other places, they said it was not worth it.”
Instead, Dicks underwent numerous “scrapings” and a surgical procedure called recelling.
“They took some of my skin cells, only a little strip of my cells,” he said, “and put it in a mixture. Then they go in, put me under (anesthesia), cleaned my burns out with something like a water jet, and then sprayed that solution, to regrow my cells.”
Dicks spent three weeks in the San Antonio Military Medical Center, renowned for its intake and treatment of Gulf War veterans who were burned or severely injured by IEDs or in fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He was released in early June and returned to full-time job duties by mid month. But his every hour is spent in recovery.
“I have to wear compression (clothing) for that full time, 23 hours per day, with an hour off to shower and to let them breathe a little bit,” he said, referring to his affected limbs. “That’s my favorite hour of the day.”
Compression garments are worn after a burn to decrease severity of scarring, to help the scar mature, and to improve the look of injured skin. To achieve this, compression garments fit tightly to the injured area.
Dicks said his medical team does not know about the potential for scarring once his healing process has completed.
“They do know that if I get significant scarring … they may have to do some laser surgery to remove the scarring in the future,” he said.
His wife, Michelle, attended the fundraiser and attested to the level of care she has had to help administer.
Daily changes of padding, wraps and bandages keep them both busy. She said the support shown by their neighbors in Comfort has been overwhelming.
“Our neighbors, people that attend our church, staff and parents at our children’s school, they have all been so amazing and helpful,” Michelle Dicks said. “We are so grateful for the outpouring of desire to help, it can almost overwhelm you.”
His prognosis for recovery is “a year, to year-and-a-half,” he said. “They don’t use the word ‘normal,’ they don’t say ‘return to normal.’ They say, “healed’ in 12-18 months’ time.”
All proceeds from Wednesday’s 300-burger donation luncheon will go to help defray Dicks’ medical costs.
“We’ve just started with getting some of the claims processed and the bills are starting to come in” Jody Dicks said. “(SAMMC) hasn’t sent me a bill yet because they are still working on it. They’re still calculating. I’ve heard some scary rumors.”
A GoFundMe page -- https://gofund.me/211a648b -- has been set up to start accumulating funds for when the medical bills arrive.
Dicks said there are almost too many people to thank at this point.
“The sheriff and everybody have been amazing,” he said. “The support from the community has been amazing. People I don’t even know are coming up and giving me hugs and helping out.”
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