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PHOENIX - A 12-year-old boy is having his sixth surgery at Phoenix Children's Hospital after a firework blew up in his hand a few days after Christmas 2023.
He had to be airlifted to the hospital after his hand split in half and his fingers were missing.
The boy and his mom are both staying positive despite the pain he's in.
On Dec. 27, 12-year-old Wade Evans found a firework and took it home. In between playing video games, he lit the fuse inside his garage.
"I put it upside down onto the floor because I panicked," he said. "As I was taking my hand away, it blew."
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Firework blows up in young Arizona boys hand
A 12-year-old boy is having his sixth surgery at Phoenix Childrens Hospital after a firework blew up in his hand. He had to be airlifted to the hospital after his hand split in half and his fingers were missing. FOX 10's Lindsey Ragas reports.
In addition to his right hand splitting in half, he lost his index finger and thumb.
"I ran through out of my garage and into our house and then was screaming, obviously," he said.
His mom, Natalie Evans, says his grandma was watching him. She went to the kitchen to finish cooking and said she'd be back in five minutes.
While she was cooking, she heard the firework go off.
"My dad used to be a firefighter and a helicopter pilot, so he had all the first aid. He put QuikClot on it right away and tourniquet his arm. They laid him down on the kitchen floor and my dad was helping him. My mom went back into the garage, and she ended up finding his index finger," Natalie said.
Surgeons have sewn Wade's index finger to his thumb, and they're hoping to do skin grafts because there is a lot of exposed bone.
"I think it's just been really traumatic for him. It's been extremely painful," Wade's mom said.
She says her son has a long road to recovery.
"Just to relearn everything I could do with my right hand, with my left hand. So I have to learn how to write, and because I play video games, I want to relearn how to do that," he said.
Wade has a good attitude and is being humorous about it.
"He had some of the nurses there give him some fake bugs, and he's been pranking all his nurses," Natalie said.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help raise money for the Evans family as they focus on their son's healing journey: https://gofund.me/7ca4eadb