The father of Mosgiel burns victim Jamie Jury said he had all but given up hope of his son's survival, but the teenager was receiving excellent care at Middlemore Hospital.
He remains in a critical but stable condition.
Steven Jury spoke to the Otago Daily Times from Auckland yesterday of his son's daily struggle to recover from burns over 60% of his body.
The 18-year-old underwent skin grafts and surgery "every second day", Mr Jury said.
"Doctors are trying to get as much skin on him as they can. He's got youth on his side, that's what the doctors keep saying, and some of his skin grafts are healing really quickly."
Mr Jury said no-one would ever want to go through what he had experienced in the past three weeks.
"Watching him day in and day out ... it gets to you after a while. There were times I had given up, thinking the worst ..., but you get past that stage and think you have to look forward," he said.
Jamie was critically injured, along with Mosgiel 17-year-old Brendon McLeod, on July 2 when they were inhaling gas from 9kg lpg bottles inside a Gordon Rd home.
Gas built up in the room to the point where it was ignited by a heater, and both 9kg lpg bottles exploded, followed by the heater's gas bottle.
Brendon was also transferred to Middlemore's burns centre, where he is in a serious but stable condition.
Asked whether he thought people should be further warned about the dangers of huffing (inhaling substances to get high), Mr Jury said he had not heard of it until his son almost died.
"I knew he [Jamie] had a go at petrol at one stage, but I thought it was just a passing phase. Middlemore staff were doing their very best for the teenagers.
"I couldn't say enough about them - they are a wonderful team of highly-skilled people."
