Burned student still recovering

Junior Andrew Madlon felt like most UNC students last year after the men’s basketball victory against Villanova in the Final Four: elated, excited and ready to celebrate on Franklin Street.

But Madlon came away with what he described as the worst memory of his college years. He fell into a fire that inflicted second- and third-degree burns to about five inches of his right arm.

“We weren’t really near the fires,” Madlon said. “But one of my drunk friends picked me up. I went crowd surfing, and when the crowd ran out, I fell into the fire.”

Madlon said there wasn’t much pain involved at first.

“The burn was deep enough to damage the nerves, so it never actually hurt too badly,” he said.

Madlon’s friend, junior Kendall Law, saw Madlon’s injuries and assisted him.

“We saw Andrew walking around, and he had burn marks on him,” Law said. “He asked us if we would go to the paramedics and firemen with him, so we did.”

Madlon was in the emergency room until 3 a.m. and made numerous trips to the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center to get debris out of his wound. Due to complications, he also had to have his skin grafted.

“They used pig skin to cover my burn like a bandage while it healed,” he said. “And as my skin healed, it fell off.”

Madlon also underwent months of physical therapy to get his full range of motion back. It has been more than six months since the incident occurred, but he still wears a protective sleeve over the burn.

Though hurt physically, Madlon said he has not suffered much psychological anguish — two days after his injury, he was out celebrating the National Championship win.

“It wasn’t traumatic enough to make me not go on Franklin Street when we won the National Championship,” he said. “But I made a point not to go near the fires.”

Law said he thought the burns hadn’t affected Madlon, other than the physical aspects.

“He’s the same old Andrew,” Law said. “He still has that sleeve on from that night.”

Madlon said he has no regrets celebrating basketball victories and will not support ending Franklin Street shenanigans. But he said he thought changes must be made to ensure that people don’t play or jump near the fire.

But until lately, Madlon has not been very vocal in the bonfire debate.

“When you’re the person who has to deal with the thousands of dollars of medical bills, consequences and missing class, you look at it differently,” he said. “There are more important things than jumping over a fire once a year.”



Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.