WASHINGTON COUNTY (KFSM) — A girl who suffered severe burns in a July accident has finished surgery and should return home later this month, according to her mother.
Brooklyn Cross, 7, was badly burned after an accident involving gasoline on July 7.
The accident happened while she and her brothers and sisters were playing, and their dad was working on his truck.
“They decided to go on the other side of the truck and like I said I wasn't there, so I don't know which way they ran, I kind of know how the truck was setup. They ran past it and it just happened to shoot out that fire and catch Brooklyn,” said her mom, Sasha Cross.
Brooklyn was rushed to the hospital with burns to more than half of her body.
Cross didn't know how bad the burns were until she saw her daughter at a Tulsa hospital.
“This is the toughest thing we've ever had to deal with,” she said.
Brooklyn was then flown to Shriner's Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio where doctors now say she has burns on 66 percent of her body, including her face, arms, chest, back and legs.
“She tried to open her eyes last week several different times, but her eyes were still swollen, but she has tried to open her eyes and she has squeezed my hand,” she said.
Cross said Brooklyn has undergone four surgeries to remove the burnt skin and replace it with donor skin, but will have to undergo many more.
She said one of those surgeries happened Tuesday (July 10) and it went well.
“She's one tough cookie. She's doing really good. She's a fighter.”
Cross says the doctors are hoping to remove her breathing tube on Wednesday (July 11).
They also said Brooklyn will be in the hospital one day for every percentage of her body that was burned.
Shriners Hospital has told the Cross' the medical bills that their insurance doesn't cover will be paid for by the hospital.
Their other children are being taken care of by their grandparents back in Arkansas.
To view the Go-Fund-Me page setup to help the family, click here.