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Teen survives explosion  Share
It is ''a true miracle'' that a 15-year-old Lawrence County youth is alive, let alone making a quick recovery from an explosion that scattered his home into the nearby fields in the community of Billett. According to a family friend, Kody Shick is healing from burns and cuts that he withstood as a result of an explosion and fire that occurred at about 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 25. Little by little, he is recalling more details about the incident. Just seconds after he got into the bathtub that night, he told family members and friends, the explosion occurred which sent him into the air where something collided with his leg and cut him. Once on the ground, he said he got up and ran and looked back; but, there was just a small fire and the house was in a million pieces. A second explosion occurred which is assumed to have been caused by the water heater. According to an investigation by the Illinois State Fire Marshall , the explosions were the results of a liquid petroleum leak. Shick was the only one in the home at the time of the explosions. ''Someone was definitely watching over him that night,'' a friend said as they told that a Bible was unscathed and found next to the bathtub in the field. Shick came home on September 5 from Shriner's Hospital. Although he has some numbness in his fingers on his left hand, doctors report that he shouldn't have any lasting effects from it. He probably will have some scarring from the burns. The Lawrenceville High School freshman returned to school on Wednesday, Sept. 16.
Benefits are being organized to help with medical expenses and other needs for him and his father, Matt Shick. A fish-fry will be October 3 at the Billett United Methodist Church, while a performance by the band ''Two Time'' will be held to raise funds in November. Barbara E. Allender is editor of the Bridgeport Leader.
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