Anne Ryder follows the aftermath of a fire that left three painters severely burned in this nationally recognized documentary from her time at WTHR. Throughout, we witness their journey and strength with their loved ones as they face new challenges now present long after the flames and countless long days spent at the hospital undergoing surgeries.
(0:14): Anne Ryder introduces the documentary about burn injury and recovery. Ryder said the documentary includes images people might find disturbing, so viewer discretion is advised.
(0:35): The date “July 29, 2003” appears on a dark screen. Siren noises can be heard in the background.
(0:37): Audio from what seems to be a 911 call plays over aerial footage of huge clouds of
smoke billowing from crashed semi-trucks on an Indianapolis highway. An operator’s voice says, “Fire and Ambulance,” to which an unknown caller sounds distressed, and yells “nine people.”
(0:47): Footage of a badly burnt semi-truck flashes on screen. The narrator, Ryder, says, “In an instant, an Indianapolis highway becomes a death trap.”
(0:50): The screen quickly flashes between cuts of someone’s missing shoe, a hat on the ground and a paint can. Ryder says a flick of a lighter engulfed a box truck full of paints, lacquers and meth.
(0:55): Cuts to the inside of a badly burnt truck. Ryder narrates, “13 commercial painters spill onto the interstate, burning alive.”
(0:58): Cuts to a man, likely a concerned passerby, pouring a water bottle down someone’s back. The person he pours water onto appears to be wearing a thin blanket or poncho. A woman is helping them as well. Ryder, still narrating, says drivers try to stop to help, but they’re not able to do much.
(01:04): A man’s voice plays over footage of an ambulance, he said, “They were just in pain and agony. Their skin was falling off.”
(01:06): A sign reads “Emergency, IU-Wishard Trauma Center.” Wishard Memorial Hospital was an Indianapolis hospital at the time. It cuts to an ambulance rushing by.
(1:11): Cuts to someone in scrubs, likely a doctor or nurse, running through Wishard Hospital. Ryder narrates over the footage, “Wishard Hospital’s level-one burn center mobilizes quickly,” she said.
(01:13): There are several quick cuts within a hospital: a woman talks on the phone, doctors crowd around an obscured body on a hospital bed. One appears to hand-pump oxygen into the patient’s mouth.
(01:19): A doctor puts on a white coat. A man’s voice narrates, “We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he says.
(01:23): A doctor or nurse wearing a mask looks down at a patient. She repeats, “You’re gonna be fine,” to the patient. It cuts to the patient’s face, which is covered in blood. The patient blinks up at her.
(01:30): A hand reaches out to touch a gauzed, bandaged hand. It cuts to a woman who looks to the left, distressed, and then looks down. Ryder narrates, “This is the story of four men and the people who love them.”
(01:35): The camera pans over someone asleep in a hospital bed. He has an oxygen tube in his mouth, his face is puffy. Ryder narrates, “A year long journey that took them from the brink of death to a life they never imagined.”
(01:39): The screen cuts to the title image. There are flames, which then dissipate to reveal the title, “To Hell and Back.”
(02:06): Cuts to Ann Ryder in a dark studio with an empty hospital bed. She says that any doctor would describe burn recovery as being deeply painful and difficult both physically and mentally. She introduces the next clip by saying it’s the first time WTHR cameras have come inside the Wishard burn center to follow the lives of four burn victims and their families for one year.
(02:31): Cuts to a photograph of 32-year old Danny Maple, when he is healthy. Then cuts to him in a hospital bed and reveals he has third-degree burns over 42% of his body. He has a breathing tube and he’s in a medically induced coma.
(03:04): Danny’s wife, Dawn, is seen hugging someone and crying in a packed hospital waiting room. Ryder says she just signed a consent form for Danny to go into surgery.
(03:27): Dawn talks to Danny’s unconscious body in a hospital bed. She says, “Your kids love you. I love you.”
(03:57): Ryder says the first 48 hours after a serious burn are the most critical to a victim’s survival
(04:19): Dr. Rajiv Sood, the Wishard Burn Center’s medical director, says when patients have serious burns, around 75% of their bodies, they can expect to be in the hospital for 3 months and have at least 15-20 surgeries.
(04:32): Jason Miller, a friend of Danny Maple, is in a hospital room down the hall. The camera pans over his face — he is wrapped in bandages “like a mummy.” He has burns on nearly 70% of his body, and has a one in three chance of survival.
(04:45): Ryder says Miller’s just 27, the father of four boys, and his mother’s only son. A woman in yellow scrubs sings “You Are My Sunshine” over a wrapped up body in a hospital bed. Viewers can assume this is Miller’s mother.
(05:22): Ryder says Miller was in shock after being burned, and describes the severity of Miller’s injuries. The camera pans over his puffy, closed eyes peeking through bandages. Miller’s body, burning from the inside out, is fighting organ failure, Ryder says.
(05:36): Ryder says that 2 rooms down, Joe Gallagher, a 28-year-old cruise supervisor, is in the worst condition. The camera pans over Gallagher’s bloodied face as his eyes roll backward. Several cans of lacquer blew up under Joe’s seat, Ryder narrates. Gallagher has third-degree burns on 85% of his body.
(06:03): Gallagher’s mother, Pearl, looks down at her son with tears in her eyes. She says “I love you,” and Gallagher, unable to speak, blinks to signal agreement. Ryder says his mother is clinging to the one-in-ten change he lives.
(06:23): Camera pans from Joe’s bloodied face to the face of his sleeping daughter, who was born just two weeks before the accident.
(06:35): Josh Littleton, another one of the fire victims, is conscious and sitting up. He has burns on 13% of his body and bandages on both of his arms. Comparatively, he’s in much better condition than his colleagues.
(07:29): Danny Maple’s wife, Dawn, goes home to explain to their children Hayley, a
first-grader, and Danny Jr., a three-year-old, where their father is. His daughter asks Dawn if she thinks Danny will be able to spend her birthday with her. Dawn refuses to sleep in her and Danny’s bed until he comes home.
(08:11): Back at Wishard, Josh Littleton has already had skin grafts. The doctors bathe him and do physical therapy.
(08:53): The surgeons begin preparing skin for the men’s skin grafts. They use cadavers’ skin as well as the patients’ skin to use for grafts. For Maple’s second surgery, they use some of his own skin.
(09:34): Ten days after the fire, Maple begins to wake up in pain, agitated and confused. He writhes around in bed. Three days later, he gets an infection, which the doctors say is serious but normal.
(10:27): Dr. Sood says that infection is the most common reason for death following severe burns. The camera cuts to Dawn, Maple’s wife, looks very stressed.
(10:34): Dawn whispers over Danny Maple, who is awake. She tells him it’s not his time to die, and he repeats it to her. He tells her she has babies to take care of. She tells him that, to her, he hasn’t changed.
(11:08): A nurse scrubs down Maple’s badly burnt body as he winces in pain. His body is red and scabbed all over.
(11:53): Maple is eager to get home. He scrubs himself in a bath and says that he’s only able to get through this because of his wife’s support.
(12:30): Maple and Littleton are told they can go home from the hospital. On the way out,
Littleton visits with Gallagher, the most badly burned, for the longest time. He tells Gallagher to blink his eyes for him, and tells him “I love you buddy.”
(12:50): Danny Maple returns home next and greets both of his children with hugs. His wife, Dawn, says she cried for 42 nights straight while Danny was in the hospital, but stopped crying the night he came home.
(14:12): Joe Gallagher goes into surgery. He doesn’t have enough healthy skin to use for
grafting, so the doctors have to use bits of healthy skin to grow new skin in the lab. Dr. Sood says the skin graft for Joe’s chest was $60,000.
(15:05): A call signal comes from Jason Miller’s room. He is bleeding profusely from one of his bandages. He has a serious infection.
(15:41): At home, Jason Miller’s mother is dealing with overwhelming hospital bills. She gets financial help from an organization called The People’s Burn Foundation.
(16:14): One month after the fire, Jason comes off life support.
(16:33): Miller, a month after the fire, is finally able to talk. He says he’s scared he will die.
(16:52): Miller’s two children visit him the next day at the hospital. They haven’t seen their
father for two months. He tells his sons he’ll be home soon.
(17:43): By October, Jason is in a wheelchair at a rehabilitation center. Soon, he’s able to walk again.
(18:08): Jason finally goes home. He looks much healthier as he strums guitar at home. But he’s frustrated that he can’t bend his fingers as well as he used to.
(18:25): The camera cuts to Josh Littleton, who is struggling to adjust to life at home. His wife Charlene is also struggling to adjust to life as Josh recovers. Josh, who is back to work, tires very easily.
(19:00): Cuts to Josh as his wife sponges his wounds at home. Josh says that morning he had to sit down and cry. He’s upset, he says he feels like less of a man.
(19:51): Danny Maple begins intensive outpatient therapy.
(20:07): By mid-November, Danny is able to attend his daughter’s birthday party. Eventually, he starts to feel better and returns to work.
(20:58): The camera cuts back to Joe, who mouths the things he’s thankful for through a
breathing tube as he sits in the burn center on Thanksgiving.
(21:38): Joe Gallagher transfers from the burn center to the rehabilitation wing, where his
children visit him. He says his body still hurts, it still feels like “it’s happening,” meaning the fire. He has painful bone deposits and spurs in his legs and joints.
(22:14): Six months after the fire, Joe Gallagher is cleared to go home. Because of the damage to his muscles, he doesn’t know if he’ll walk again.
(22:38): The Wishard Burn Unit staff cries as Joe goes home to his mother’s house. They say he’s the most badly injured burn victim to survive and leave the burn unit.
(23:07): “July 2004” appears on the screen. Ryder says, “It’s still sinking in — what can happen to a life in a year.”
(23:40): A year after the fire, Ryder interviews Danny Maple. His marriage to Dawn has fallen apart under the pressure of the last year.
(23:58): Jason strums guitar. He is bothered by his scars but says he thinks he’s a better person now, more able to appreciate life.
(24:40): The camera cuts to Josh Littleton. He and his wife Charlene are working “long, odd” hours to pay their bills. Their marriage has been “tested to its core,” Ryder says.
(25:38): Joe Gallagher is able to walk with a walker. He’s found a new sense of peace, he says.
(26:22): Joe says, “Anyone who doesn’t believe in some greater power after this, it’s their own
loss.”
(26:50): Back in the studio, Ann Ryder says the men’s stories prove it’s possible to emerge from
a “journey to Hell and back.”
(27:14): The sound of Jason’s guitar strums over the final credits. A clip of him in the hospital plays, when he says he’s looking forward to going home to eat and play with his kids. Other clips from each of the men’s recovery play over the credits as well.
Clips:
*(1:47), “Ask any doctor about burn recovery,” to (2:29) “the power of love.”
This clip provides a good explanation/preview for the documentary to come, in explaining both the medical and personal significance of severe burn recovery.
*(4:32), “Down the hall from Danny Miller..” to (4:57) “please don’t take my sunshine away.” This clip is particularly heart-wrenching as a mother sings to her son as he suffers from incredible burns, highly lethal burns.
Producer/Writer: Anne Ryder
Photographer/Editor: Steve Starnes
Post-Production Editor: Jason Richards
Executive Producer, Special Projects: Julie Cooley
Studio Camera, Lighting, Set Design: Kyle Duell
Fire Scene Photographers: Scott Graber, Greg Wilkerson
Design Director: Janet Birkhead
Graphic Design: Kristina Burke
Promotion Director: Jeff Dutton
Program Director: Rod Porter
News Director: Jacques Natz
Sr. V.P. and Gen. Mgr.: Rich Pegram