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Jasmina Meyer/Highlands Today

J.P. Evilsizor, 3, feeds his dog, Callie, treats at his home on Wednesday in Sebring.

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By BILL RETTEW JR.

Highlands Today

Published: October 10, 2008

SEBRING - Friends and family joyfully celebrated after a Christmas Eve 2006 holiday meal, when disaster struck.

Sixteen-month-old J.P. Evilsizor walked into a fire pit.

The blond-haired, hazel-eyed boy was rushed to a hospital with third-degree burns from his heels to his knees and on both hands.

Mother Renee Pollitt, screamed when she witnessed one of those few moments that can alter a life forever, but J.P. never made a sound.

Thursday, Jeffrey "Evil" Evilsizor, the father, called his son a "tough kid."

"From what he's been through, it's hard to imagine," said Evilsizor. "There hasn't been a lot of complaining."

Wednesday, J.P. bounded around the family's Sebring home carrying his dog Callie who weighs only a little less than he does.

The visible reminders of that terrible holiday are a still bandaged leg and scars that will diminish with time. Two or three times a day, J.P. takes physical therapy workouts at home.

"J.P. runs, jumps and plays like other normal children, he just looks a little different," said Pollitt.

J.P. faced out-of-state trips for surgeries as "new adventures," said Evilsizor.

"It didn't even cross his mind," said Evilsizor. "I haven't ever caught him looking at (his scars) differently. It's like it's been there all the time."

"It's not like taking your kid to the doctor for the common cold," said Pollitt.

Local Highlands Shiners, a 110-member volunteer organization, offered assistance shortly after the accident. First the family sought a Tampa hospital, which didn't instill confidence in the young couple.

Pollitt called a phone number culled from an almost-forgotten everyday refrigerator magnet she'd received months before in the mail from the Shrine Club.

Most of the 22 Shriners hospitals specialize in burns for children. J.P. and his parents were never asked to pay anything for everything from the ride to the airport to surgeries and a room shared by the family in a Cincinnati burn hospital.

Young burn victims played together at the hospital.

Staffers even brought shovelfuls of snow into the hospital. Every child had a chance to toss around snowballs. It was J.P.'s first experience with the white stuff.

"They treated J.P. like he was the only patient there," said Pollitt, about Shriners Hospital staffers. "He would have never made it through without them."

Both parents agreed: seeing the other hospitalized children made them feel fortunate.

Evilsizor talked about those young burn victims.

"Kids are so resilient, and for as bad as they were, they played together and acted like nothing was different, just like regular kids."

Shriner hospitals provide orthopedic care, spinal cord injury rehabilitation, and cleft lip and palate care to children up to 18, free of charge.

Saturday night, the Highlands Shrine Club will sponsor a fundraising dinner, with eight local personalities acting as "celebrity servers," at the Shrine Club across from the flea market on State Road 17, south of Avon Park.

Sirloin tips will be served with social hour at 5:30 p.m. and dinner at 6:30 p.m. The Sweet Adelines will entertain. Tickets are $20 each. If possible, call in advance, 863-414-0554. Tickets will be available at the door.

To make a donation to help children receive free medical care, regardless of ability to pay or insurance, write Shriners Hospital for Children, P.O. Box 229, Sebring, FL 33871

Bill Rettew Jr. may be contacted at 386-5857 or wrettew@highlandstoday.com

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