Teenage farmer survives devastating accident that leaves him with horrific burns, without an arm

On November 28, 2024By Pranco

HAMILTON, Texas (KWTX/Gray News) – A high school student who has worked in agriculture his entire life survived a near-fatal farming accident that left him with horrific burns and an armless limb.

Braycin Parrish, 17, is recovering from injuries that doctors say are the worst they have ever seen anyone survive.

The farmer was injured while harvesting peanuts on October 2 when the buggy on his tractor came into contact with an electrical line, causing him to suffer shock and setting his body on fire.

‘He was dead. For how many minutes? Only God knows,” said his father Blain Parrish.

Agriculture is something that is in the blood of the hard-working 17-year-old.

“I started riding around with my dad when I was not much older than 2,” Braycin said. “Has done just about everything, everything, tractors, cattle.”

Braycin said he loves farming and the hard work that comes with it.

“I don’t know any other way,” Braycin said. “I don’t get up every day and want to play football. I don’t expect that to be fun at all. I see that working, making money and being at the forefront are getting better in my opinion.”

That’s exactly what Braycin did when a typical workday turned into a nightmare.

“I got on the tractor and I went to dump it in the trailer, and I guess there was a high line over it, and I went to tip it over, and the buggy caught fire and the tires caught fire. . So I got out and wanted to disconnect the buggy from the tractor, but it was electrified, and I touched it and that’s how it lit me up,” Braycin said.

It’s the last thing he remembers.

Braycin’s boss was the only person around when it happened. He found Braycin face down in the mud, surrounded by fire and not breathing.

Braycin’s boss began CPR, called 911 and made a panicked call to his father, who was working in a sales barn 45 minutes away.

“He calls me and he screams,” Blain Parrish said. “I run outside because he never screams. He’s a quiet man, and he screams, and then he goes and tells me, he said, ‘He’s alive. It’s not good. ”

He added, “When he said, ‘There’s a big hole in him,’ I gave that pickup everything she would do.”

Braycin’s boss helped the teen breathe again. When his father arrived, Braycin was loaded into a medical helicopter.

“You hear about it and see it on TV and stuff, but it’s a lot different when your child is laying there,” Blain Parrish said.

Braycin was flown to Parkland Health’s burn center in Dallas, where he underwent multiple surgeries to save his life.

Braycin suffered third-degree burns on more than 60% of his body, and his left arm was burned to the bone.

“It was down to the bone. Bone was black, his father said. “It looked like a hot dog that you left there at 500 degrees for four days. The bone was even black.”

Doctors removed Braycin’s left arm to save his life.

“There were two who sat here in this office and said, ‘We’ve been here for 20 years and we’ve never seen anyone get such a severe burn or such a serious blow and survive,'” Blain Parrish said.

Braycin underwent multiple surgeries in the days after the accident.

He became unresponsive until the seventh day, at which point his father and stepmother, Brandi, a nurse, were captured on video.

“I Never Lie” by Zach Top was playing in Braycin’s hospital room and he started going through the motions of strumming.

“We were all sitting there talking and they were working on him, and Brandi said, ‘Look.’ He started doing this with his hand, and when I looked back his feet were tapping along too,” Blain Parrish said.

Braycin doesn’t remember the moment, but enjoys watching the playback.

“It brings me to tears,” he said. “I think it’s pretty cool that I recognized it even though I wasn’t actually there, and I don’t remember it now.”

Top watched the now-viral video of Braycin waking up to his song and sent a care package with signed merchandise.

Braycin has been working overtime to recover.

Despite being burned from the top of his head to his feet, where he also lost three toes, Braycin tells nurses his pain level is “maybe a four.”

“I don’t know anyone stronger, and I know a lot of people,” his father said.

Braycin said he couldn’t have made it through without the support of his family.

Braycin says once he gets out, he has one plan: get back on the tractor.

“I may have to change the way I do it, or it may be a little slower, but I’ll get it done and I’ll learn how to make it faster if I need to,” Braycin said.

He said God was watching over him.

“God was there watching over me. If it weren’t for that, I think I would have been even worse without God. Yeah, I don’t think I would live without him,” he said.

Braycin has more surgeries planned, but he is weeks ahead of recovery expectations. He will be released from hospital on Friday.