Faith Through the Flames, Part Two

Bailey Richards was just regaining his footing after performing a stop, drop, and roll after the barbecue grill he was attempting to roast s’mores on exploded on April 28 in Chokoloskee, just outside Everglades City. The explosion caused burns on 30 percent of his body (See Faith Through the Flames, Part 1, Coastal Breeze News, June 11-17, 2026). When Bailey looked up, he saw his cousin, Dustin Hancock, arriving at the scene as part of the rescue team from Ochopee Fire Control. Bailey was with his wife, Stephanie. The s’mores were for his five-year-old son Manny, who was also injured in the explosion.

"We rinsed all the dirt off,” Bailey Richards said, “and as I was walking around the corner of the house I saw Dustin's lights and they pulled up into the yard. The second he put it in park he was running over to check on me. Then the rest of the EMTs cut my clothes off, examined me, got me loaded up and took me to the Everglades Airport in about 10 minutes. Shortly after that, the helicopter landed and got me to Lee Health in Fort Myers within about 15 minutes. I didn't know helicopters could go that fast."

"Some people in the community had texted and asked what was going on,” said Stephanie Richards, Bailey’s wife.

"One of my buddies had heard the explosion,” Bailey said, "and I didn’t get to my phone until we were at the hospital in Tampa. But he had asked me, ’Hey, buddy, are you okay?' He had seen the smoke coming over the houses. My cousin, right down the road, had looked out his window because he had heard it too. He saw this big old cloud of smoke rolling over the house. They all felt their houses shake. And these are concrete houses. And this wasn't next door, it was down the road and around the corner."

Bailey was relieved when he saw Hancock running to his rescue.

"I felt some relief because I knew that he knows what he’s doing,” Bailey said, "and his crew knows what they're doing. But, you know, I was still scared looking at my skin hanging off in some parts and I still felt like I was burning."

Bailey said the crew immediately went to work.

“They got me in there,” he said, “they gave me something to sedate me so they could work on me and move me without me being in pain. They put me on the stretcher, loaded me up in the ambulance, gave me the ketamine to numb the pain and then got me to the airport. They helped kind of stabilize everything and get stuff wrapped up and covered. At Lee Health, they suggested I go to Tampa General. So they got me in another ambulance and drove me up to Tampa General.”

To Bailey, the scene at the house seemed to unfold quickly. For Stephanie, time seemed to move slowly.

"Everything went pretty quick,” Bailey recalls. "I mean, I know it was all within a ten-minute period, but it all felt like it happened within three or four minutes." 

"Oh my gosh,” Stephanie said, "I'm just so happy his family was there because I was trying to deal with Manny. But then they're taking care of Bailey. I wanted to help Bailey because I knew he had so much going on. But I had to make sure Manny was okay, too, because he's crying about his wounds. Luckily, his family was helping Bailey and getting him situated with the ambulance. They told me, ‘Don't let Manny see his dad right now.” He does not look good.' I wasn't sure what to do because I wanted to go out there and make sure Bailey's somewhat okay. To me, it seemed like it was so long waiting to hear what to do while I was sitting inside with Manny."

Bailey said it was a bumpy ride to Tampa, at least what he remembers of it.

“I had never been in an ambulance,” he said. “It was just a two man crew, but they did a good job of keeping me calm so I could go to sleep while they got me there. After about 30 minutes, I was able to fall asleep and I slept until we got to Tampa."

Richards was impressed with the care he received at Tampa General.

"They did a good job at assessing everything and cleaning everything up,” he said, “and then informing me that I would be okay.”

Once his healthcare providers at Tampa General convinced him he was going to live, Bailey’s thoughts quickly turned to his wife and son. He didn’t know the extent of Manny’s injuries and Stephanie was expecting to go into labor with their second child at any time.

"I know I should have been concerned about myself,” Bailey said, "but my main concerns were Manny and Stephanie. I was just wanting to make sure that they were okay and that she didn't go into labor early or anything. Being in the burn unit, they had no idea how to handle any sort of labor. So as soon as I said something about that, there was a whole team in there trying to figure out what to do.”

"It's crazy,” Stephanie said, "all they had to do for his burns. But they would keep us in the loop and would tell us everything, step by step, they were doing. They were very attentive to him, which was awesome. Especially in the ICU, they were there around the clock, always there if we needed them."

Bailey got a surprise soon after arriving in Tampa.

“They were really quick,” Bailey said. “Because I was in there about ten minutes and they had just finished hooking me up and making sure all my vitals were doing okay. Then I saw them wheel Manny in. I got scared because I thought it was worse. But they assured me that he was good. It was just a couple burns on his arms." 

"Manny's burns were a lot worse than they thought in Ft. Myers,” Stephanie said. “They started bubbling up really bad and getting a lot bigger. The doctors in Tampa needed to do a debridement with Bailey. They took off all the dead skin. They had to pop his blisters. They had to take off all the dead skin and clean it. And then they put some antibacterial wound dressings on it. Poor kid. He was so scared. But luckily, they gave him some pain medication through his nose. He was so worried about that. But right after that, he didn't feel anything. He was such a trooper. I'm very proud of him, how well he handled it."

"Really proud of him,” Bailey concurred.

Manny was excited about his mom’s pregnancy. He couldn’t wait to have a baby brother.

"That was Manny's highlight,” Stephanie said. “He was figuring out when I was having a baby every single day leading up to the due date. He would come in and tell me how long we had left. We were so excited because we've been waiting to give him another sibling. We were super excited to welcome Isaiah in. We were due May 18. I was just hoping he would stay inside me as long as he could because we were still looking to stay in the hospital for like another week or so just to make sure Bailey was fine."

Eventually, Stephanie was admitted to Tampa General, just one floor away from the burn unit Bailey was being treated in.

"I walked down to the burn unit after being admitted to labor and delivery,” Stephanie said, "and one of the nurses there said, ‘Oh, wow, I didn't expect to see you in a gown, too!’"

On May 12, Bailey was just completing a rigorous physical therapy session when he lost consciousness.

"He was super stressed,” Stephanie said, "I think with me going into labor and him doing all his physical therapy that day, he ended up fainting. And I was going to have the baby. They ended up keeping Bailey monitored. They didn't want him to leave, so he wasn't able to be in the room when I gave birth.”

“They attributed my fainting to stress and overdoing it with my exercise,” Bailey said. "They think I went a little further than I should have when I was walking. They had me use my walker. I walked from the room all the way down to the doors and back. Once I got back in the room, I was feeling a little lightheaded, and I was walking into the bathroom. That's when I fainted. The nurse, about half my size, caught me and helped sit me down. They said I was out for about 10 seconds before I came back to. But I just remember everything going white and then black, and then everything slowly coming back into focus.

“I was already halfway through labor by the time they told me Bailey fainted,” Stephanie said. "They wanted to keep him hooked up and monitored. I was a little worried that he wouldn't make it. And then they said, ‘All right, you can start pushing.' Then they said, 'Bailey's not coming. We at least called him so he could see.’”

"Luckily, my best friend ended up showing up that day,” Bailey said. "And he was determined to make sure that he was able to follow me so I could see the birth on his phone. He's following me with his phone as they're taking me down to get an ultrasound on my spleen to make sure it didn't rupture. He followed me all the way down to radiology. They let him go in the room with me, so I got to see Isaiah be born. It was nice too, because not only did I get to see him be born, but I was also able to see Manny's reaction."

“As soon as he heard the baby cry,” Stephanie said of Manny, "he was so excited."

"His eyes lit up,” Bailey said. “He’s been asking for years for a little brother."

“We haven't really said this too much,” Stephanie said, "but last year we ended up losing our baby. We were like halfway through, so I did have to give birth. So Manny’s been so excited to have a sibling. He's been waiting and waiting. He's been on edge, too. He's always worried that something's going to happen with the baby. So he actually got to see the baby come out. I think it reassured him that he was going to have a sibling. This one's a little rainbow baby. That's what they call babies born after a loss."

As a true outdoorsman, being confined to a hospital bed started to take a psychological toll on Bailey.

"It was a lot to take on,” he said, "just being in the hospital that long really messes with your psyche.”

“He's definitely an outdoors guy,” Stephanie said. “Almost every day he doesn't work, he's trying to do something around the house. He is an Everglades boy, so Bailey's always been hands-on with everything. So, for this to happen messes with the mentality a little bit. He always helps others. So he did feel so bad when we had a new baby and he couldn't really do much at the time."

Bailey’s not used to being the one who needs help.

“I’ve always been a fixer or a helper my whole life,” he said. "It's what I feel I need to do for people. I never really ask for help much. My parents have always tried to teach me that it's okay to ask for help. It's okay to need help. But something in my head tells me, ‘No, I need to do it on my own.' I need to prove to myself, I guess, that I can do stuff. It really started affecting me a bit and I got a lot more emotional thinking about things. I was not able to walk on my own or use my hands much. It was hard to come to terms with.”

Bailey feared he may never be able to walk or use his hands.

"That was a thought I had,” he said, "but the doctors and nurses kept reassuring me that I should be able to walk again. I just have to do the exercises and routines that they set out for me to do. Another thing that helped me realize that I’m going to be okay was a conversation with my boss. Once I was able to start using my hands again, I was able to talk to him. He sent me a photo from 1985 when he was a teenager and he had a gasoline burn. He was in worse shape than I was. To see how he's able to move today really helped me.”

Bailey’s still deep in recovery mode, but signs of recovery keep him optimistic.

“They said once I get compression sleeves for my legs, within a month or two if everything stays on track, I should be able to go back to work. I won’t be able to do everything, but I can at least go and help them out a little bit. When I went in for the checkup yesterday, I was only standing for maybe two minutes or so and my legs started shaking. So they ended up having to hurry up and get the seat ready quicker than they thought. But other than that, the checkup went pretty good. They were all amazed about how much progress my skin has made since they had last seen me. They also said they weren't sure if I'd have any arm hair growing back,” Bailey said, holding out his right arm. "But it seems like most of it's coming back. It makes me feel better that my arms might look somewhat normal after this."

"Last week, he still had a bunch of scabs and stuff to where he couldn’t hold the baby as much,” Stephanie said. "But now with how good he's progressing, he's able to hold the baby a lot more."

"I could have probably held him,” Bailey said. "I just didn't want scabs or blood or anything getting on him or his clothes. So I just kind of stayed back a little bit. That was tough. But now that I'm cleaner, I'm able to hold him. And it's nice to be able to hold him and talk to him and stuff."

 Perhaps the most painful part of Bailey’s rehab came when they removed hundreds of staples from his body.

“They put staples in to get the skin to stay on,” Stephanie said.

“Yesterday, they pulled my final staples out,” Bailey said. "I think my arm had eight or nine staples removed after they had done the initial removal of staples. There were just so many. The physical therapists were taking my hands and pushing them and I was wondering why that hurt. I figured it hurt because of the skin graft. But I found out it hurt because there were staples in between every finger, everywhere that there's a seam.”

Bailey figures there were hundreds of staples in his body. They sedated him for the procedure.

“When they did the initial removal, I actually came to,” Bailey said. “They were trying to run through and pull the staples out as fast as they could and I came to and I was screaming. They stopped after that and waited until they could sedate me again. And then they finally took all the staples out, except for the eight they found later. That's when they took the final wrappings off my legs and let them air out, because they did an allograft on my legs.”

An allograft is a transplant of tissue or organs between genetically different individuals.

“That's the cadaver skin that they put on his legs,” Stephanie said. “Luckily, it didn't need anything after that. They didn't need skin grafts like the rest."

“Originally, they estimated about a 35 to 40 percent burn,” Bailey said. "And then once we got to Tampa General, it went down to about 30 percent. By the time I was released, they said I had healed to about 14 to 15 percent.”

Both Bailey and Stephanie feel his belief in God has played a big part in his recovery.

"It's a blessing that I'm able to move as much as I am and be here for my kids and my wife,” Bailey said. "I'm just happy and blessed that I'm here."

"He's the oldest in his family,” Stephanie said. "So they kind of raised him in it a lot. He's a lot more knowledgeable about the Bible than I am. I think his faith helped a lot for sure."

"I did a lot of talking with God and thinking about it,” Bailey said. “I never questioned him but thanked him for letting me live. The way I was raised, all things are in his hands. Nothing's done without his consent. Even if it is bad, it may be a bad thing that had to happen so you can be more rejoiceful in the things you do have. I thought about the book of Job a lot. No matter what happened to Job, he never forsook God, he always praised God. And God, in return, gave him everything back. It may not have been exactly the same, but he was still given his life back."

"I feel like I should have been in a lot worse shape than I was,” Stephanie said, "freaking out regarding Bailey and being so heavily pregnant. But I feel like God's the only reason I was able to be so calm throughout the whole thing.”

Bailey’s grandmother, Glenda Hancock, who was in the house she shares with Bailey, Stephanie, and Manny at the time of the explosion, is a strong believer. 

"I just know that it was the grace of God,” Hancock said, "because they could have all three been killed. All I can say is that it's God's grace that has brought them this far.”