IU alum survives fire, fights for life

Somewhere in a South Korean hospital Judy Kapoun sits waiting, staring at her son Bill’s disfigured body, which she is only able to recognize by a tattoo.

Bill, a 2004 IU graduate, waits, too, in a burn unit where visitors are only allowed in twice a day for a half hour each. His body – 64 percent of it burned after an apartment fire Feb. 24 – is wrapped from head to toe “like a mummy,” Judy said, with little room for his eyes and charred nose to peek out. He is in critical condition and in a drug-induced coma.

Judy signs consent forms written in a language she cannot understand for procedures she cannot afford, and prays they will keep her 25-year-old son alive.

She and her husband, Dan, are hoping for Bill to be airlifted to a burn unit at a hospital in Chicago – a trip that will cost more than $60,000 which must be paid up front. If they receive enough money from a fundraiser that Bill’s sister has created, Bill could be airlifted back to the U.S. as early as Monday.

Back home in Alexandria, Ind., Judy’s mother battles cancer, and her four children wait – one, Laura, is an IU senior. On Wednesday, Judy watched Bill’s girlfriend die (“the girl he intended to marry,” she said) from the same fire, which is now being investigated as arson. Because of Bill’s part-time contract to teach English in South Korea, he lacked health insurance.

“I whisper in his ear and urge him to fight, tell him we are trying to get him home,” Judy said in an e-mail. “I have nightmares imagining the terror he must have felt in the midst of the flames. Will he remember that? He was still writhing for hours after he arrived at the airport. What must he have been enduring ...”

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Back at IU, Laura wants nothing more than to be with her brother, her companion who always shared the same love of traveling. They both grew up in Germany, and after graduation, Bill worked in Germany and then in Portugal. His decision to teach English in Korea was just a whim, Laura said.

“He wanted to go somewhere else,” she said.

After receiving the 4 a.m. phone call on Feb. 24 from her father, Laura fell to the floor, crying.

“My brothers are the people closest to me in my life,” Laura said. “To be told that one of them might not be there anymore ... I’ve never felt so much pain – ever.”

For now, Laura is focused on setting up a fund to pay for the hundreds of thousands of dollars it will cost to heal Bill – not including the physical therapy, reconstructive surgery and other procedures that will take years, she said.

Through photos her mother took, Laura was able to see the cast set upon his face, red skin and charred nose peeking through, an unconscious older brother underneath, hooked up to a ventilator.

“When I saw his nose, I didn’t know flesh could burn like that,” Laura said. “I didn’t know your flesh could literally look like charcoal.”

Because Bill doesn’t have health insurance, his medical bills are expected to exceed $100,000. Laura described the family’s financial situation as “desperate,” and quickly, along with a friend’s help, she set up the “Help Bill Kapoun Fund” through a Web site and a Facebook group. The fund has already garnered about $30,000 from several different countries.

Since the fire, Bill has undergone two surgeries that put skin grafts on his chest, back and calves, Laura said. Because of the language barrier, Laura said it has been hard for her family to get information about the fire. They think Bill was in the kitchen when there was a blast of flames and he tried to escape to upstairs, but the fire just spread. Though his girlfriend, Sejin, didn’t suffer as much damage as Bill, she died Wednesday, Judy said.

Bill’s Acacia fraternity brother Braden Andreassi helped Laura set up the Web site to allow donations online and then watched as $14,000 of donations poured in in just a few days.

“Here’s a kid who’s always put other people first and then something that horrible happens,” Andreassi said. “It makes you realize that every single day does matter – it’s not just some cliché.”

Money isn’t what worries Laura most, she said, but it’s the only way she can change life for Bill from the other side of the world.

“If I could spend my entire day thinking about him and that would make him better, I would do that,” Laura said. “I’ll do whatever my parents need me to. ... I know that I can do the most good here, so that’s what I’m doing.”

In South Korea, “We are literally in a time warp,” said Judy, who’s a nurse herself. “We never move forward into recovery; we are frozen in the struggle for survival.”

Back at IU, Laura focuses on taking care of things at home and raising the money in hopes her older brother can return home. She’s engaged and planning a wedding for May, which she hopes her brother will somehow be able to attend.

“My mom’s words to my brother every night are ‘I’m bringing you home for Laura’s wedding,’” she said. “It’s kind of a set date. We’re saying ‘You’re gonna get by better by this date,’ and we stick with that.”

To donate, go to www.billkapoun.com. People can donate via PayPal or by mailing money directing to: HELP BILL KAPOUN FUND P.O. Box 283 Bloomington, IN, 47402.