ROUND ROCK, Texas — Warning: Images in this story may be disturbing to some readers
A Round Rock woman continues to recover in the ICU after her hand sanitizer allegedly caught fire when she was trying to light a candle. Kate Wise was left with severe burns to her entire body.
Wise considers herself blessed to be alive.
She said on Sunday she put on hand sanitizer that she keeps around to protect herself and three daughters from coronavirus. Then, her life changed forever.
“It can be something as small as lighting a candle,” Wise said. “Because of the hand sanitizer, it just lit my whole ... everywhere I had hand sanitizer on my hand, it just lit my hand with fire.”
Wise said the flames made contact with the off-brand sanitizer bottle and it exploded.
“And it obviously went all over my face. And, in like a matter of five seconds, my whole body was just consumed in flames,” she said.
Wise said while her two youngest daughters ran to neighbors to get help, she managed to get her burning clothes off of her and pulled her disabled daughter and pets out of the house.
The Round Rock Fire Department is investigating the cause of the fire.
Wise's friend, Kathryn Bonesteel in Houston, warns others about buying off-brand products.
“We’re all buying what’s easily available. We look to stores we trust like Amazon to purchase the products that we need to protect ourselves and our families,” Bonesteel said.
Bonesteel has launched a GoFundMe page to help Wise with medical expenses. Wise hopes by raising awareness others will stay out of harm's way.
“It’s something that you never want your kids to see,” Wise said. “Like, you just being up in flames so I think that part kind of killed me just because it’s something I never wanted them to have to go through.”
