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Arizona boy who suffered second-degree burns asking for birthday cards

Posted at 9:07 PM, Jun 16, 2018
and last updated 2018-06-17 14:03:09-04

He is a 15-year old boy who suffered massive second-degree burns over 70 percent of his body.

Cameron Washburn has spent the last six weeks at the Arizona Burn Center and has undergone at least a dozen surgeries.  

For six weeks now, his family has been traveling more than 90 miles from their home in Tucson to stay by Cameron's bedside as much as they can.

Margaret and Michael Washburn say the cause of the fire that injured Cameron is still under investigation, but it happened while he was home.

The injuries stretched from his torso all the way down his legs.  

For his parents, watching their son suffer from the intense pain has been unbearable to watch.

"He is usually between 8-9 on the pain scale for at least the last month," said Cameron's father, Michael Washburn.

His mother Margaret Washburn, who is battling cancer, and currently undergoing treatments said she was emotionally overwhelmed with the experience.

"The tears are flowing everyday. There aren't any words really. I want to be here with him all the time but I can't," she said.

His family said Cameron was currently undergoing surgeries to implant new skin from his back, on to his wounds.  A previous attempt had ended with an infection, so they were trying again.

Margaret said they were allowing limited visitors to see their son, and he felt very isolated so to cheer him up, they hoped to make his upcoming birthday on June 20 extra special.  

They are asking everyone to send Cameron a birthday card. The goal was to have at least 1,600 cards to present to their son on his 16th birthday.

"We just want him to know that people do care and are out there. He doesn't know. He's not on social media right now," his mother said.

They are posting pictures, videos and keeping friends and relatives updated with Cameron's recovery on a Facebook page specially dedicated to this titled "Cameron Washburn 2018 Recovery". You can access the page here

If you would like to send Cameron a birthday greeting, the address is 4391 W. Mars Street, Tucson AZ 85741. 

He is expected to be at the Arizona Burn Center for three more weeks.