WEATHERFORD -- His burn scars stretch from head to foot. He uses a wheelchair, and Garrison "Rayne" Newby is constantly fighting infections.
But the 14-year-old Millsap High School freshman is ready to go deer hunting, less than a year after an accident at a family gathering in Grayson County left him with burns on more than 90 percent of his body.A few weeks from being dismissed from a Dallas physical therapy center and a Ronald McDonald House, Newby and his family will pack their bags and head for Missouri today on his first deer hunting trip, thanks to a classmate and a TV hunting show."Before he was burned, I had promised to take him this year," said Johnthomas Larkin of Aledo, Newby's cousin. "He missed Thanksgiving, Christmas and his birthday. When he started to get better, we thought maybe."Millsap classmate Bailey Natusch nominated Newby for an expense-paid dream hunt for terminally ill children sponsored by TNT's Outdoor Explosion show.He was picked to hunt white-tailed deer in Missouri."I'm very excited," Newby said this week at his grandmother's home in Weatherford.Newby suffered the critical burns Nov. 23, a day before Thanksgiving, near Pottsboro in Grayson County where his family was visiting relatives.A relative had been burning brush when the fire went down after several hours.Newby placed a piece of wood on the embers, trying to rekindle the blaze. When that didn't work, he grabbed a container of diesel fuel to add to the embers.In seconds, the container caught fire and exploded."The explosion shook the ground," said Carrie Larkin, Newby's mother. "At first I thought one of the smokers had exploded so we ran to the back of the house. That's when I saw Rayne totally on fire."He was flown to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, where he was in a medically induced coma for 21 days.Friends and relatives said one of his first questions was "Will I still get to go hunting deer?"Skin grafting has been slow because he had little good skin left and new skin had to be grown for him in Massachusetts.He had more than six surgeries at Parkland. Painful therapy sessions became routine at a rehab center. He was eventually moved to a Ronald McDonald House in Dallas before being allowed to move back to Weatherford."He's been a better patient than I would have ever be," said Wanda "Nanna" Letson of Weatherford, his grandmother.His return has also meant preparing for the hunting trip.Since 2009, TNT's Outdoor Explosion and Cast of Dreams have been partners in the dream hunt program for kids. Each year, they send about four kids on trips where everything is paid for including on-site medical care."It all depends on donations as to how many kids we send," Todd Cast of TNT said.Cast said Newby and his family will leave today on a private plane from Mineral Wells to Missouri, where they will spend three days hunting.Johnthomas Larkin has already taken Newby to a gun range to practice."He did great," Larkin said.Newby just smiled."I won't be disappointed if I don't get one," the quiet teen said. "It will just be fun to go."Domingo Ramirez Jr.,817-390-7763Twitter: @mingoramirezjrHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
