Teen Loses Part of His Leg—And Possibly His Sight—After His Sparkler Bomb Explodes Too Soon

"It was Rowdy. Rowdy wanted to make the boom, and the boom got him," teen's aunt says.

The Short of It

A Texas teen lost part of his leg and may lose his eyesight from setting off a homemade sparkler bomb over the July Fourth weekend.

The Lowdown

Rowdy Radford, 15, was playing around with fireworks on Saturday in Sargent, Texas, when he decided to make a "sparkler bomb" by duct-taping roughly 200 sparklers together. But when he bent down to light it, the whole thing blew up in his face.

The boy lost part of his left leg and may lose his sight. His fingers were able to be saved and reattached, but it is unknown if they will function properly. He also has injuries on his right leg, both arms need screws and pins to hold his wrists and elbow together, and his hands and face were severely burned. Now his mother Wendy Smith wants his story to serve as a warning to other parents.

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Smith knew all about Rowdy's sparkler bombs. In fact, she said Rowdy is known for building them.

"They do it every year," she told KHOU. "But we didn't know this was going to be a big one."

"Rowdy has always been known for making his booms, and he makes his booms by scaring everybody," Samantha Hansen, Radford's aunt, said. "It was Rowdy. Rowdy wanted to make the boom, and the boom got him."

His mother said he went to the fire stand and bought $40 worth of sparklers, and then he wrapped them all together using duct tape and left one sparkler sticking out of the center to use as a fuse.

When the bomb went off at around 11:30 Saturday night, Smith was inside. "Then I hear people screaming, saying, 'Your son got hurt,'" she recalled. "Then after that, I don't remember. I blacked out."

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Rowdy was airlifted to Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, where his left leg was amputated below the knee, and he now remains sedated in critical condition. His injuries are extensive, Smith says, and doctors are not yet sure if her son will ever see again.

"Hopefully, he'll get his eyesight back because they couldn't get in there and clean them," Smith said. "He has wires, sparkler wires, in his eyes."

Resource: parenting.com