resembled an inflated Michelin Man. He
had no eyelids or lips (the only things
not bandaged) he had proud bulging
flesh with no skin on it where his
eyelids and lips should have been. He
was connected to a bank of monitors
and machines through tubes and wires
everywhere. My thoughts of the morning
evaporated, I knew no-one could survive
this. All hope drained away.”
Jake nearly succumbed to his
injuries twice over the coming weeks,
with surgeons reviving him both times,
but each episode was a devastating
setback. Jake was a fighter and he had
to be with what lay ahead of him over
the next three years.
Three skin grafts were performed,
as soon as one lot of grafting healed, he
went in for the next. I abandoned my
business to care full time to aid in Jake’s
slow and painful recovery, and life was
all about, bandages, pressure garments,
physio, face masks, and stretching
garments.
I was devoted to his rehabilitation
and I found a woman called Jill Waibel
in the States who was doing amazing
work with burns scars. I found a
brilliant dermatologist who felt he could
replicate her treatments, he started to
treat Jake. The results were really great.
The treatments were expensive and
Jake only had his face treated, but the
results were worth it.
Finally Jake was healing on the
outside but I was very worried about
him. He barely left the couch and
seemed to have lost all joy and interest
in life. “I coaxed him to start drinking
some tea I mixed up from herbs to
help elevate his mood a little. He was
reluctant. I just kept making it and
putting it down in front of him and
gradually he drank more and more of it.
After a couple of weeks we noticed he
had broken out in a mass of tiny pustules
all over his graft site. I suspected it was
the tea, so we stopped it for a week and
the pustules cleared up. Jake started to
feel a little better, he said he felt like a
cloud had lifted. We started him back on
the tea and the pustules returned, but
not nearly as bad as they had been the
first time.”
I noticed a real change in Jake. He
got up off the couch. He showered and
dressed. He spoke on the phone. Had
friends over. He spoke about the future.
40% of burns patients that are burnt as
much as Jake commit suicide in the first
10 years. It’s a tough gig. I didn’t want
that to happen to us.
I asked him, “if you could do anything
in the world with your life, what would it
be?’ He wasn’t sure. His previous plans
had changed and he would have to think
about it.”
Jake was in contact with some of
the people we met in the burns unit at
the Alfred Hospital on facebook. They
commented on how well Jake looked.
Jake told them about the treatments he
had been having and suggested they
do the same. Their answer hit him like
a bolt of lightning. They said they could
not afford to have those treatments. It
hadn’t occurred to Jake before that the
cost of the treatments was prohibitive
and how lucky he had been that we had
been able to afford them. This really
affected Jake.
A few days later he came to me and
said, “I know what I would like to do
with my life. I want to start a charity
for burns patients and their families
to assist with their recovery and
rehabilitation.”
I had a lot of experience fund raising
for charities and I knew how much
hard work was involved. The past
three years of caring for Jake had taken
its toll on us all, resulting in me being
diagnosed with PTSD. I had to get back
to work and I knew I couldn’t do that
and raise funds for charity.
“Undaunted, my new chatty, happy
son came to me and said, “I have the
perfect solution. You make your teas that
you love, and we will donate proceeds
from the sale of the tea to my charity.”
A burns charity run by Jake, the
Roach Foundation was founded, and
I went back to what I loved most
concocting herbal teas, launching Raw
Essentials Tea, which Jake and now Paul
help me run.
”Together we execute our own brand
of ethics, quality and commitment to our
customer’s health and the environment.”
Summer 2020 9