A man from Kentucky may end up losing his hand after a destructive fireworks accident. 18-year-old Andrew “Andi” Stratton is still recovering after losing three fingers and half his thumb on June 27. He was also close to losing his sight due to one small factor.
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Man At Risk Of Losing Hand After Lighting Defective Firework
This freak accident happened due to a “faulty” firework, according to Cleveland 19. Andi recently graduated from high school in May and began working in construction after finishing his classes early.
Life seemed to be good until the accident. Andi met up with friends after work that day, spending time lighting fireworks, as his GoFundMe reported. As he bent down to light it up, within seconds, the firework exploded in his left hand.
“There was no ‘horseplaying’ or negligence on Andi’s part… simply a freak accident,” it said. First responders rushed to the scene, but unfortunately, most of Andi’s left hand was damaged and gone.
After undergoing emergency surgery that night, he came out of it with quite the gnarled hand. Andi had “pins in his left pinky, half of his thumb & his three middle fingers were gone down to the knuckle.”
The explosion also allegedly singed his eyebrows, eyelashes, hairline, and chest hair. Andi was lucky to have been wearing sunglasses at the time, which mostly protected his eyes from the blast. Still, they had to flush firework debris from his eyes for several days, which resulted in scratched corneas.
Andi’s family doesn’t yet know the future of his hand. He’s still in recovery and on several medications while awaiting more surgeries and therapies. Unfortunately, their insurance won’t cover a functional prosthetic, only a cosmetic one. This led to the GoFundMe, which has since raised over $3,000.
One of Andi’s biggest struggles is the possibility of not being able to return to work. “How am I going to get back to work?” said Andi to Cleveland 19. “Going from working every day and then to not being able to work at all.”
Not knowing what the future holds, Andi is leaning on his faith. “Just going to leave it up to God; going to pray on it,” he said.