Mother of 1-year-old burned in explosion speaks about girl's recovery

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A backyard explosion changed a young Charlotte family's life forever.

Emily Hinton suffered severe burns and spent months in the burn center after the 2015 explosion. She was only a year old.

Emily was near her grandmother, who was burning leaves and brush in the backyard, when a gas can exploded.

CLICK HERE for a Facebook page for Emily

Her grandmother frantically tried to put out the flames.
 
"She picked her up and tried to smother the fire," Emily's mother, Amy Hinton, said. "It wasn't going out so she put her on the ground and started rolling her."

Burns covered more than half of Emily's body.
 
At times, Amy didn't know if she would pull through.
 
She clinically died twice and she came back.
 
The Hintons said they're believers and they relied on their Christian faith and focused on prayer.
 
"I prayed a lot for her little body and for God to place hands on her and heal her," Amy said.
 
Emily, who is now 22 months old, is healing after almost seven months in a Winston-Salem hospital, and Charlotte firefighters welcomed her home.
 
Nurses now visit to help the Hintons with Emily's care.
 
"She had to have a trach put in because she has contractors around her mouth where she can't open," the mother said.
 
Countless surgeries are ahead, but so is hope. 
 
"Strength. A bright little soul," Amy said. "A fighter, courageous; I see everything I saw before."
 
Emily's next surgery will be in the coming months to release scar tissue around her neck and chin.

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