CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — A metro Atlanta teenager is remembering a boat explosion on Lake Nottely in Union County last Fourth of July.
Isaac Freeman, now 18, told Channel 2’s Cory James that getting home was all the motivation he needed to push through months in the hospital.
He said he had reservations about even going on the lake trip with family and friends, but decided to go at the last minute.
"I had a weird feeling that day," he recalled. "I was actually pretty close to not going."
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When they stopped to get gas, they say the boat exploded and caught fire out of nowhere.
“The blast sort of knocked me out," he said. “I remember sort of waking up in the water...I was in shock.”
Several people were injured, including two of his siblings, but his injuries were more severe with burns to 80% of his body.
“A lot of my nerves at that point were just gone, burnt off,” he remembered.
His mom, Brittany Miller, says he spent three months at Grady Memorial Hospital and at the beginning was in a medically-induced coma.
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She said he underwent more than a dozen surgeries and will have to have even more.
“It was terrifying,” Miller said. “I’m just so proud that he is motivated to keep himself going and he’s not doing it for us.”
He said he’s not letting anything, not even the tragic incident on the lake, hold him back.
“Do you think you’ll get back on the lake this weekend?” James asked.
“It’s 50/50. It’s hard to say. I won’t know until I get there,” he replied.
The family says they still do not know what caused the explosion.
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