BELTON, S.C. —At just 4 years old, Bennett Dornellas has faced unimaginable challenges.Anderson County Sheriff's deputies said the 3-year-old was kidnapped by his father, Joshua Dornellas, from their home in Belton.Deputies followed the car, and when they crossed into Georgia, state troopers began chasing the truck.Then Bennett's father set a fire in the tru...
BELTON, S.C. —
At just 4 years old, Bennett Dornellas has faced unimaginable challenges.
Anderson County Sheriff's deputies said the 3-year-old was kidnapped by his father, Joshua Dornellas, from their home in Belton.
Deputies followed the car, and when they crossed into Georgia, state troopers began chasing the truck.
Then Bennett's father set a fire in the truck, jumped out, and left Bennett burning inside, according to authorities.
"It has definitely been the hardest past year of our lives. Everything changed, to say the least. But we've made lots of progress," says Bennett's mother, Chelsea Oliver.
Over 90% of Bennett's body was burned. His strength was on display through over 20 surgeries and countless nights in the hospital.
"Just a lot of the same kind of thing. Lots of releases continued skin grafts," Oliver explains.
Bennett's aunt, Stephanie Darnell, says parts of his body needed to be amputated. Now, he's working with a team of doctors and nurses to feel a sense of normal.
"[He is] learning to walk again. So he's in physical therapy. He has a wheelchair coming, which will give him some independency," Darnell says.
Recovery would not be possible without skin grafts from deceased donors, a process that saved his life.
"Coverage of those burns is critical to survival. If you can't take off the burned skin and cover that with some sort of skin or short-term skin substitute, you're going to die from injuries like that," says Doctor Brian Thurston with We Are Sharing Hope SC.
He explains, "if you look at solid organs, being things like heart, lung, kidneys, on average, we can save 7 to 9 lives per donor with those organs. But if you look at, skin or skin and soft tissue, we have the ability to save or positively impact 75 to 80 lives."
The main goal now is to get Bennett back to his old self.
"It's a long process of reconstruction before he'll be able to get his mobility back and his arms, which will be a huge step for him," his mother says.
Top Picks
'God puts you where you need to be': Amazon Flex driver helps save family from burning home