Imagine being trapped in your vehicle, flames all around you, reaching for you, burning you, pulling your life away.  You open your mouth, gasp for air, but inhale nothing but smoke and fire.  Beating against the windows, you’re fighting for your life, and just as you’re about to take your last breath – the door opens.

 For many of us, this is a nightmare from which we’d wake up in a mess of tangled covers, safe and sound.  However, for Brad Hearon, this was a nightmare that he couldn’t wake up from.  Mr. Hearon visited Willow Springs High School on Friday October 22, 2009, to tell us his chilling and heart wrenching story.

 Brad started experimenting with drugs in 6^th grade and thought it was no big deal.  He tried to turn his life around and get off of the destructive path he was headed down.  In ninth grade, Brad relapsed.

 “Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future,” Brad quoted this to the enchanted audience, stressing the importance of choosing friends wisely.

 In January of 2003,  the 19- year old’ s life took a drastic change. Brad was cooking meth in his El Camino with another individual. He was in the last stage when the other man in the vehicle lit a cigarette.  Brad yelled at him to get out and run but was not able to save himself from this horrible nightmare.

 After miraculously escaping the burning El Camino, Brad was alone in an isolated field while his companion went to tell his awaiting friends that he was dead.  After four and a half agaonizing hours, a friend found Brad and took him to the hospital. Upon arrival, a nurse looked at him and screeched, “Oh my gosh, what do I do with you?  You’re burned all over!”   Brad Hearon was given less than a 0.1% chance of survival from the 3^rd and 4^th degree burns that covered 64% of his body.  He was put into a four and a half month long drug induced coma while undergoing  several surgeries.

“This scarred and mutilated body has a story,” stated Brad.  “Just remember it before you decided to experiment with drugs.” 

Brad and his wife Autumn