Boy, 11, Was Badly Burned in a BBQ Accident as a Toddler. Now He’s Healing with Other Kids Like Him (Exclusive)

Kids came from across San Diego and Imperial County to spend a few hot July days practicing archery and swimming at the Indian Hills Campground along a dirt road in Jamul. They had different backgrounds, yet shared a common injury that altered their lives forever.

This year, 19 campers and four young adult leaders — all burn survivors — attended Camp Beyond the Scars, a free annual event hosted by the Burn Institute, an organization focused on reducing fire-related injuries and supporting victims with burn trauma.

Speaking with PEOPLE ahead of his fourth summer at the camp, Tovie Cousin, 11, says the environment is “more comfortable because I can see other people with burns and they can see me.”

“Everybody’s different in their own way. They all have different burns, different stories to their burns,” says Cousin, who touched an infrared barbecue when he was a toddler, resulting in second- and third-degree burns on his palms that required a skin graft.

Each year, the anticipation builds for Cousin as he waits to board the bus and reunite with his friends.

“It’s a place where you can open up to them and they can open up to you,” Cousin says.

For his mom Alika, 44, the camp provides a connection to a network of other survivors that their family wouldn’t have otherwise known. “He feels welcomed, he feels loved, he feels seen,” she says.

This year, Karmen Verdugo, 18, attended Camp Beyond the Scars for the first time as part of the Leader in Training program for survivors who have aged out of camp but are not yet old enough to be a counselor.

Verdugo spent months recovering after getting burned by a fire pit at a birthday party in May 2024 — and throughout the past year, she’s had to reconcile with her own mental health struggles.

“I was bed bound for a couple months, and I wasn’t taking care of my burn, and I wasn’t taking care of myself, my mental health,” she says.

Things began to change when Verdugo was connected to an adult burn support group, where she heard stories from survivors moving through unique yet familiar pain.

Gradually, she built back her confidence and reengaged with school and her church to “get rid of all the guilt in my heart that I have from my burn and a lot of anxieties that I still have, but they’re going away little by little.”

“The healing journey will never stop, but it’s getting better for me,” she says.

Now hopes to help other kids as they move forward.

“We’ve all gone through the same thing — different stories — but we’re all still healing from it,” Verdugo says, adding, “a burn doesn’t stop people from living and having fun.”

At the camp, Verdugo put her leadership skills to the test when she helped a crying, homesick boy named Anthony.

“‘You don’t have to be scared to be here, but if you want to go home, that’s perfectly fine. But you have friends here that care so much about you,’ ” she recalls the group telling him.

Ultimately, she and some of the other leaders were able to convince the little boy to stay. While there, he participated in a scavenger hunt, and the winners received Lego sets. Anthony built his into a toucan, which he gifted to Verdugo — a token of the fun he ended up having.

Anthony roomed in the same cabin as Cousin, who offered the boy some tips on how to combat homesickness.

“I tried to help him as much as I could,” Cousin says.

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Alika says she has watched her son find his own path as he sets out for camp each summer.

“Every year, he’s a little bit more independent, a little bit more courageous and stronger,” Alika says.

“This kid shines, but when he comes back from camp, he shines a little brighter,” she adds. “He definitely gets an interaction and a connection that he doesn’t get [in] any other place.”

If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.