2-year-old recovers from burns

VALPARAISO, Ind. -- A toddler with more than 85 percent of his body burned when his older brother accidentally hit him with a flaming gas can has returned home after six months in Indianapolis hospitals.\nTwo-year-old Christopher Madden arrived at his rural Valparaiso home Friday night with his mother, Lynn.\n"It's kind of like bringing home a newborn," his mother told the Post-Tribune of Merrillville for a Tuesday story.\nThe boy spent four months in the burn unit at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis and another two months at a Riley rehabilitation unit at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.\nOn Aug. 2, his teenage brother panicked when the gas can ignited inside a garage. He tried to toss it outside without realizing the boy was standing in the doorway. The boy was burned from his chest to his toes.\nChristopher begins therapy Wednesday at Jacob's Ladder, a pediatric rehabilitation facility in Portage, Ind.\nStill unable to walk on his own, he moves around the house in his tiny wheelchair and will remain under 24-hour care from his mother for the immediate future.\n"The first night he was looking around, and everything seemed new to him," Lynn said. "But ever since, he's been laughing and playing. He seems very happy."\nLynn said a nurse will stop by the family's home a couple times a week to check on Christopher. Lynn plans to bring a psychiatrist to the home to help the family deal with the new and unusual situation.\n"It's in Chris' best interest and (ours)," Lynn said. "They're going to suggest to us what they feel is best."\nHaving slept by Christopher's side much of the time in Indianapolis, Lynn said she is still sleeping on the couch next to Christopher's bed in their living room. He takes six different medications in the mornings and sleeps with a feeding tube connected to his side, though he eats regular foods during the day.\n"You get an overwhelming sense of responsibility," Lynn said. "I have that anyway, but it's bigger"