Tough little baby: Questa toddler bounces back from serious burn accident

Aug. 20—QUESTA — Little Anita Rael, just 20 months old, is a busy baby, bustling around the living area of her home, bringing framed photos over for the inspection of two guests, working determinedly to pull herself up on a couch, pausing occasionally to absorb scenes from the animated movie "Coco" on the family TV.

"Coco" is one of Anita's favorites.

"I've been watching so many kids movies I never saw before — like 'Toy Story,'" said Agustin Rael, 28, Anita's dad.

"She loves her movies and books," Anna, 30, Anita's mom, said. "She loves animals, she's learning her colors. She can count from one to 10."

Agustin and Anna's pride in their child is obvious, but it's not difficult to perceive something more — a sense of wonder, a deep and abiding thankfulness.

Slightly more than a year ago, Agustin and Anna were not sure their baby would live. And if she did, what kind of life she would have.

Mom mode

Questa is a town of about 2,000, 22 miles north of Taos.

Agustin grew up here. The home he shares with Anna and Anita sits in a field where his grandfather once raised alfalfa. He has about 10 years of firefighting and emergency medical services experience and worked with a Taos ambulance service for more than five years, but is employed now as a health and safety officer with Granite, a construction and construction materials company.

Anna grew up in Talpa, six miles south of Taos. She is the procurement and assets officer for the Town of Taos.

Aug. 6, 2022, was a Saturday, so neither Agustin nor Anna were at their jobs. Agustin was taking some trash to the dump and Anna was at home with Anita. A crockpot of beans was simmering in the kitchen. Anita, not quite 8 months old at the time, was in a baby walker.

Suddenly, Anita sped across the kitchen floor in her walker, grabbed the cord of the crockpot and pulled. Beans and scalding-hot liquid spilled onto the child's head, face, left arm, torso and thighs.

Anna was terrified, her baby was screaming, but the young mother steeled herself.

"I went into mom mode," she said. "I knew I had to take care of her and do what I had to do before I let my emotions kick in. I took her out of the walker and took off all her clothes down to her diaper. I called Agustin, and he called 911 for me."

Agustin told Anna to start driving Anita to Taos and to watch for the ambulance that would be coming her way.

"Once I hit 522 (the state highway between Questa and Taos), I hit 100 with my flashers on," Anna said. "I passed every car because they weren't pulling over. They probably thought I was a maniac."

The ambulance driver was watching for Anna's vehicle. When the driver and Anna saw each other, they pulled to the sides of the highway. Anna, carrying Anita in a loose blanket, ran to the ambulance. Eight emergency vehicles, county sheriff's office and Taos police cars, escorted the ambulance to Holy Cross Medical Center in Taos.

Fear of the unknown

A doctor and physician assistant were waiting for Anita in the trauma center at Holy Cross.

"At that point, Anita was blistering and her skin was peeling," Anna said. "They assessed her and gave her pain medications. She was calming down some. But her throat was swelling. They got a ventilator down her nose."

By this time, 20 family members had gathered at Holy Cross. However, Anna said the medical center did not have the facilities to deal with burn injuries as severe as those suffered by her child. It was decided to send Anita to a children's hospital in Denver. Anna and Anita were flown by plane to the Denver airport and then transported to the hospital by helicopter.

Agustin went back to the family home to pack up clothes and other necessities before driving his white Ford F-250 to Denver.

"It was hard when I came back to the house to get whatever I could," he said. "I didn't want to leave because I had seen how she was at the hospital in Taos, and I knew she was not going to have an easy road. It was just the fear of the unknown. I knew I had to go."

At the Denver hospital, Anita underwent 2 1/2 hours of surgery to remove dead skin. And it was in Denver, that Anna finally surrendered to her emotions.

"They had a little grassy area there, and I just had to run out there screaming and crying," she said.

After four days in Denver, Anita was transferred to Shriners Children's Ohio, which is located within Dayton Children's Hospital.

Hours before Anna and Anita left by plane for Dayton, Agustin set out in his truck on the 22-hour drive from Denver to Dayton.

"It was lonely, but a different kind of lonely," Agustin said. "We're not really traveling people. I had only ever been in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and Colorado. I'd just stop for gas and to eat. A friend would call every hour to see how I was doing."

Traumatic flight

Anna has a musical laugh that comes easily, but while recounting the harrowing experiences of a year ago, pain creases her face and tears film her eyes.

It was like that when she talked about how Anita's heart stopped during the flight to Dayton.

"All I wanted to do was jump out of that airplane," Anna said. "I was holding a Bible and praying, 'Don't take her.'"

Epinephrine, administered by the medical team, got Anita's heart beating again. The plane landed in Dayton at 1 a.m., and an ambulance took Anita and Anna to Shriners Children's Ohio.

"We were very happy to see Dr. (Petra) Warner and the Shriners crew — 15 nurses, respiratory therapists, doctors — rushing to (Anita) at two in the morning."

Dr. Warner is chief of staff for Shriners Children's Ohio and a pediatric burn specialist.

"Anita had a bit of a traumatic flight and was in critical condition when she got here," Warner said during a phone interview. "For a parent it would be completely traumatic. We needed to get her better, so the family could see she was better."

The hospital gave Anita medicine to heal her lungs. About three days after arriving at the Dayton hospital, Anita opened her eyes and connected with her parents.

"The moment she opened her eyes and she saw her parents and they could see it was their little girl, that was a turning point," Warner said.

Agustin said it was the goal of Shriner Children's staff to allow him and Anna to be parents and allow Anita to be their baby.

"We read to her, prayed for her, talked to her, just looked at her," Anna said. "The staff brought her toys to play with."

Fighting spirit

Anita was taken off the ventilator a week after arriving at Shriners Children's.

"She had scalding burns on 33% of her body," Warner said. "Six percent were third-degree burns and 27% were second degree. She did have some burns on her face, but not bad enough to leave scarring."

Warner said Anita underwent skin grafting, taking portions of her unburned skin to cover the burned areas.

"There were daily dressing changes, lotioning and massaging to minimize any scarring and therapy to make sure muscles stay loose and limber, (and) pressure garments that help flatten those scars. The family did a lot of hard work helping us help Anita. They had to learn how to do the dressings, the massaging and lotioning and putting the pressure garments on."

Shriners Children's provides care for children regardless of the family's ability to pay or insurance status.

"The Shriners team was amazing," Anna said. "They found us a room in a hotel. They helped us with meals. Gave us vouchers. They treated Anita like family. She and Dr. Warner became the best of friends."

Shriners makes care available for its patients, whether the family has insurance or not, until a patient turns 21. That's important in Anita's case.

"Because we don't know how the scar will grow with age," Warner said.

Anita herself was remarkable, dealing with all the medical procedures and the discomfort of teething, too. Anna said Anita got four teeth while at Shriners in Dayton.

"What I remember most about Anita is her fighting spirit," Warner said. "And her smile. The cutest smile."

'Our hero'

Anita was at Shriners Children's for more than three weeks. One day, Anna and Agustin arrived at the hospital to find their baby sitting in a nurse's lap while the nurse worked at her station.

It was time to go home.

Anita's mom and dad and other relatives who look after her continue to tend to her scars, massaging, lotioning, keeping pressure garments in place, things Anita will do herself when she is older.

But on a weekday night last week, it was almost impossible to tell the accident had ever happened. Anita was climbing and tumbling over her mom and dad, grinning all the time.

"She's a miracle in how far she's come," Agustin said. "She is like any other baby out there. She will have to deal with the scarring, but that won't bother her. She's the toughest little baby. She's the happiest baby."

"She's our hero," Anna said.