The scream still echoes in their ears.
It pierces the silence of their home and their dreams alike — a sound that no parent should ever have to hear.

It wasn’t a nightmare.

It was real.

And it came from the throat of their little boy.

That night, in a single, irreversible moment of distraction, boiling oil spilled — and their son’s world turned into fire.

The Day That Burned Everything

It was supposed to be an ordinary evening. Dinner was cooking, laughter filled the kitchen, and for a brief moment, everything felt normal. Then came the sound — the splash, the scream, the chaos that followed.

When they rushed in, the sight was unbearable. Their little boy, Gabryś Myślak, was covered in boiling oil, his skin blistering before their eyes.

Panic took over. They called for help, their hands trembling as they tried to soothe him, to cool his burns, to do

something. But nothing could undo what had happened.

By the time the ambulance arrived, almost 40% of Gabryś’s small body was burned. His chest, arms, stomach, and legs — all covered in red, raw wounds that no child should ever have to bear.

That night, the hospital became their new home.

Fighting for His Life

The doctors’ words were sharp and heavy:
“Forty percent burns. Deep tissue damage. He’ll need multiple skin grafts. The next 72 hours are critical.”

They watched helplessly as their little boy disappeared behind the swinging doors of the operating room. Tubes, machines, sterile white light — and silence.

Every parent fears losing their child, but nothing can prepare you for watching your child

burn and then fight for every single breath.

For days, Gabryś was between worlds — sedated, intubated, wrapped in layers of bandages that covered almost all of his body. Every small movement made him cry out in pain.

The nurses worked gently, whispering encouragement as they changed dressings and cleaned wounds that refused to heal. But infection kept coming back — staphylococcus, pseudomonas, bacteria that fed on weakness and slowed every bit of progress.

There were nights when his parents slept sitting up beside the hospital bed, afraid to close their eyes.
Every beep of the monitor felt like a heartbeat of hope.

A Battle Made Harder

As if the burns weren’t enough, there was another cruel twist — Gabryś’s body lacked enough protein to heal properly.

Doctors prescribed a high-protein diet, but then came another shock: he was

allergic to protein.

It was a vicious cycle — his body needed what it couldn’t tolerate. Every surgery, every graft, every wound took longer to recover. The pain was relentless, and the healing painfully slow.

Each time they removed the dressings — layers upon layers of bandages — Gabryś would scream. There was so much burned skin that the dressings covered more of him than the healthy parts that remained.

His parents tried to stay strong, but inside, they were breaking.
His mother said softly, “No one should ever have to hear their child scream like that… you never forget it. You carry it inside forever.”

Scars That Time Cannot Erase

After months in the hospital, countless surgeries, and more tears than anyone could count, Gabryś was finally allowed to go home.

But the fight didn’t end there — it only changed shape.

Now, instead of operating rooms, their days revolve around special ointments, scar-reducing creams, compression garments, and rehabilitation exercises to keep his skin flexible.

Each scar tells a story — a painful one. They stretch across his small body, pale reminders of the day his childhood was stolen by fire.

And yet, when he smiles, it’s as if the scars fade for a moment.

He doesn’t talk much about that day anymore. But when he sees his mother applying the ointments, he sometimes says quietly, “It hurts a little less today, Mama.”

Those are the words that keep her going.

The Cost of Healing

For a while, they managed on their own. His parents worked tirelessly to cover the growing list of expenses — ointments, pain medications, special burn garments, sterile dressings, and laser treatments to soften the scar tissue.

But eventually, the costs became overwhelming.

Burn rehabilitation is long and merciless. The creams and bandages must be applied daily, and the custom compression suits — essential to prevent scarring from tightening the skin — need to be replaced as he grows.

Every item is expensive. Every treatment necessary.

His mother explains, “We can’t choose between them. Everything matters. Every cream, every dressing, every piece of equipment helps him heal a little more.”

Without them, his skin could harden, limiting movement, causing pain — or even requiring more surgeries.

Living with Courage

It has been two years since the accident. The physical wounds are healing, but the emotional ones are harder.

Every time she looks at his scars, his mother is reminded of that night — and of how close she came to losing him. If she could turn back time, she would give anything to do so. But she can’t.

So instead, she chooses to fight — every day, for his comfort, for his future, for his smile.

“He has endured so much pain,” she says, her voice breaking. “But he’s brave. So brave. I believe he can get better — if we just keep helping him.”

Gabryś doesn’t understand how close he came to death. To him, the hospital is just a place he’s visited too many times, the doctors just people who always smile but smell like medicine.
He’s learned to live with the scars. But his parents know — those scars are only the surface of everything he’s survived.

A Mother’s Promise

She watches him sleep sometimes, tracing the soft curls on his forehead, whispering a promise into the quiet:

“It will get better, my son. I will make sure it does. You deserve a beautiful life.”

There is still a long road ahead — more treatments, more rehabilitation, more hope to hold onto. But she believes that somewhere down that road, the pain will fade, and her son will live without fear of mirrors or pain.

She dreams of the day he runs freely again, his laughter loud and carefree, the sound of healing replacing the scream that once shattered her world.

The Fight Continues

Gabryś’s story is not just one of tragedy — it’s one of resilience. Of a child who faced fire and lived. Of a family who refuses to let suffering define the rest of his life.

But they cannot do it alone.

Every contribution, every ounce of support, is a brick in the road toward recovery — toward the future that this brave little boy deserves.

“We can’t undo what happened,” his mother says, “but we can build something beautiful out of the ashes.”