1-year-old who fell into fire pit making miraculous recovery

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FOX 2 first told you about this toddler horribly burned after falling into a fire pit last month.

She is walking and talking again but it was a tough road to get here with several skin graphs and surgeries along the way.

This 1-year-old baby girl who was terribly burned in a bonfire accident, is now back home and making a miraculous recovery.

Thirteen-month-old Riley Mervyn, is smiling and laughing her way to recovery.

"She's amazing, she pushes through it," said mom Marissa Mervyn. "She wants to go, and she doesn't act like there's any pain."

The 1-year-old ran into the family's outdoor fire pit last May while her mom was away at work and a relative was watching her, falling into the flames.

"She just ran over this way and grandpa was right over here yelling for her," Mervyn said.

Riley came out with third degree burns on 28 percent of her body from head to toe. She was treated with surgeries and skin grafts at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit.

Today, she is looking and feeling much better.

"The doctors say that the healing God is on our side," Mervyn said. "Because when she first came in they were like, this is going to be a long recovery, and she's actually doing so well that we got to go home early.

Riley's family is planning a fundraiser in mid-August so she can get the best medical care out there as she continues to heal.

"She goes in for skin grafts on Thursday on her forehead and on her knees and legs," Mervyn said. "And after that she'll be in the hospital again for a couple more weeks or so."

The family's fire pit, like many, was home-built, and not up to code. Marissa says if the walls were a few feet higher as they should have been, Riley wouldn't have been hurt.

"Not a lot of people know what safe fire pits are," she said. "A lot of people say you should know you should know. A lot of us don't know."

She's decided to tear the pit out altogether.

"You make your own fire pits nowadays, a lot of people, and they're not safe," she said. "Follow up, go to your fire department."

Riley's fundraiser takes place at airway lanes in Waterford and is open to the public.

"So many people are behind her it's amazing," Mervyn said.

The fundraiser is set for August 21 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Airway Lanes in Waterford. For  $25 ticket get you two slices of pizza, pop, and three games of bowling.

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