State Adult Burns Service helps farmer Tim Haslam return home
Tim and Sally Haslam with the Fiona Stanley Hospital Burns staff.
In December last year, Tim Haslam was an active farmer, wrapping up harvest season on his Poppanyining grains farm.
Tim remembers getting caught in a stubble fire, being found by an employee, and being airlifted to Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH).
He spent 10 days in the Intensive Care Unit, and seven of those days in a coma.
When he woke up, Tim was told he had suffered 38 per cent total body surface area burns to his face, arms, legs, hands, and feet.
In the early days of his stay at the State Adult Burns Unit (Ward 4B), he struggled to comprehend how his life had changed so quickly, and the long and complex road to recovery ahead of him.
“I thought I would be out in a couple of weeks,” Tim said.
“I had a bad patch and got very depressed.”
84 days later, Tim walked out of hospital, independent and self-caring, and in a better headspace than he could have imagined at the beginning of his journey.
He and wife Sally, who was his biggest support and full-time carer, credit Tim’s morale and seamless recovery to the excellence, compassion, and positive attitude of the Ward 4B staff.
“From the moment I got here, I had the most unbelievable support,” Tim said.
“The care just couldn’t be faulted.”
With a dedicated multidisciplinary team of medical, clinical, and allied health staff, Tim underwent intensive treatment and rehabilitation in 4B, including six surgeries, skin grafting, and physiotherapy.
“The worst thing I had to endure was the removal of my bandages,” he said.
“The staff went out of their way to make it more comfortable, always asking what kind of music I wanted to listen to as a distraction.”
At the age of 65 Tim re-learned to walk and use his hands, his one-year-old Grandson the “only person in the world” he was faster than.
Tim and Sally said in a time of such upheaval to their lives, the positivity and confidence of the staff never wavered, and was something to hold on to.
“They never let us have any doubt that I would survive, or that I would walk out of there,” Tim said.
Now a well-known and well-loved regular patient at the Burns Outpatient Clinic, Tim still has recovery ahead of him, but he and Sally feel grateful for how far they have come, and the support system they have gained in the FSH Burns Service.
“They’ve become family,” Tim and Sally said.
