Jodie Zurn (Van Brunt)

On Monday 12/10 Jodie was cooking with a pot of oil and it caught fire. We’re not quite sure exactly what happened but somehow she knocked the pot of oil over and started herself and the kitchen on fire. Her husband, Myke, was out that night so we aren’t sure how but the flames were already extinguished when he got home. The leading theory is the smoke ended up smothering the fire. The house was filled with thick black smoke and he found her unconscious in a chair from smoke inhalation. Like I said details aren’t clear but somehow she pulled herself from the kitchen to a chair and passed out. We do not know how long she was there until her Myke found her. She suffered severe smoke inhalation and severe burns.

He took her to Ridges and they transferred her to HCMC and she is in the burn unit. She has deep 2nd and 3rd degree burns on both of her legs from the knee down and her right foot. She is intubated and on a ventilator for now to get the soot and excess fluid out of her lungs. She had her first surgery on 12/17 to begin grafting both of her legs. They grafted what they could but are not sure yet how they’re going to address her foot. Normally they don’t graft the bottoms of feet because the skin is very thick and grafts don’t take very well because you’re on them all the time. Her right foot is probably the most severe of the burns. Her lungs are the main concern right now though because she has been intubated since last week. They’re trying everything they can to get her lungs straightened out.

She’ll be in the hospital for some time to come. Stating the obvious but she’s in pretty rough shape. She isn’t really conscious with all the stuff they’re giving her. When she was conscious she would communicate by writing because vent prevented her from talking. She was responsive a little last week but they stepped up her sedation to try and keep her comfortable. Her breathing is labored at times and they have to suction quite often. The ventilator is doing most of the work for her breathing. There is concern in regards to the amount of time she’s been intubated. Her family has been at the hospital daily since the accident. The prognosis for the future is uncertain at this time because of the complications with her lungs and her right foot.

As for visitation at this point we’re asking non-family members to hold off because she is still in the burn ICU. Once she gets off the ventilator and becomes more lucid I’m sure she would love to start seeing people other than us. As I’m sure some of you who know her she can be quite the battle axe at times so were all enjoying her inability to talk right now, ha ha ha. Sorry, we have a weird sense of humor. In fact when she was alert last week I was giving her a hard time and she wrote some NSFW things to me so the old ma is still in there. The hospital also requests that no flowers or cards be sent because she is in the ICU and keeping things as sterile as possible is important.

Thank you to everyone for thoughts, prayer, and support.


Jodie's Family