When an electric panel exploded on union electrician, Mike Sliwinski, it caused much more than a building power outage. It almost ended the life of the husband, father and beloved Franklin Park youth hockey coach. Almost 50 percent of Sliwinski's body was covered with third degree burns, the worst, beginning a four month hospital stay and years-long rehabilitation that included learning to move and talk again.
"I counseled his wife, Cindy, very thoroughly and very carefully because in my professional opinion and based on the Loyola medical team notes, I honestly did not know if he would make it," says Kelly McElligott, AM, LCSW, licensed social worker who has counseled families at the Loyola University Medical Center for seven years. "Mike is the guy you want to have a beer with, and I had to learn that first through his wife. The Mike she and everyone around him knew was gregarious, outgoing and quick with a joke but the Mike Loyola saw could not speak, stir and was almost mortally wounded."
Loyola walks the talk of the "we also treat the human spirit" tagline. "I was the patient who always refused help and said I was ok, even though I really wasn't," said Sliwinski. "Kelly kept chipping away at me because she knew that I was not alright but wouldn't admit it. She kept trying to get me to talk with visiting burn survivors but I kept shutting them out. It was when I started attending burn support sessions at Loyola that I was able to emotionally begin healing through listening to others and also by sharing my own experiences."
The long conversations McElligott shared with his wife, Cindy, were symbiotic. "I wanted Loyola to know that the man lying helplessly in the hospital bed was a sleeping giant. That the hospital would be packed with his many, many friends who all were familiar with a much different man," says Cindy. "And the talks also helped me cope with the incredible shift in my life and to move forward to care for Mike, my family and myself and also help Mike move forward."
According to the America Burn Association, in 2013:
•450,000 people sought medical treatment for burn injuries
•3,400 deaths were attributed to fire/burn and/or smoke inhalation
•40,000 people were hospitalized due to burn injuries
"Loyola cares for the worst of the worst in burn injuries and we regularly treat firemen, policemen, linemen, professional chefs, auto mechanics and others who are severely injured by burns on the job," says Arthur Sanford, MD, burn surgeon. Dr. Sanford also is associate professor at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.
"Mike endured many surgeries, including skin grafts, daily removal of dead skin tissue and painful cleanings to prevent infections, and physical rehabilitation to do the most basic of things," says Sanford. "For a larger-than-life, very masculine man, such humbling circumstances are trying but Mike truly persevered to beat the odds."
Mike Sliwinski now walks, talks and is building a new life. The physical scars on his body are mostly covered, hiding any trace of his serious burn injury. But the emotional scars are still fresh.
"The turning point came after I had physically healed when Loyola arranged for Links of Hope to pay for Cindy and me to attend the annual World Burn Conference where patients and burn specialists connect," he says. "I cried the entire time, seeing what other burn survivors had been through and that I was not alone." Sliwinski now regularly returns to the Loyola burn unit and visits with recovering patients to give back. "I love seeing Mike because he reminds me that no matter how bad a patient is when they come in, the worst of the worst do survive and heal," says McElligott. "Loyola is a very integrated care team and we all take great pride in our patients."
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