Scars And Spikes – Freedom High Grad Trevor Gillilan Overcomes Severe Burns From Freak Accident To Return To Pitching

Story by Jesse Gomez | Photos by Chace Bryson

Baseball was the last thing on Trevor Gillilan’s mind as he lay critically injured flying hundreds of feet above ground in a medevac helicopter.

He was being rushed to The Firefighters Burn Institute Regional Burn Center in Sacramento where doctors would frantically try to save a young man with second- and third-degree burns over approximately 67 percent of his body.

After a successful year with the Freedom High freshman baseball team, the Oakley teen was hoping to make an impact on the junior varsity as a sophomore. The plan was to keep developing his skills and passion for the game throughout high school — but playing college ball was always his dream.

But after a freak accident on Aug. 30, 2013, even the most obvious things in his life were no longer guaranteed.

On a Friday night, two weeks into their sophomore year, Gillilan and two friends were enjoying a backyard campfire. As the flames began to dim, one of his friends poured accelerant on the existing flame. Unexpectedly a fireball projectile shot out from the fluid container, dousing Trevor’s lower body.

“All I remember thinking was STOP, DROP and ROLL,” Gillilan said. “But it didn’t work”.

The flames continued to thrive, gaining fuel from his clothes and the fresh accelerant. They quickly progressed from his legs to his torso, stopping at his neck, just under his chin. With quick thinking, his two friends ran in opposite directions: one grabbed the hose while the other turned on the water. Eventually, they were able to put out the flames.

Gillilan’s adrenaline took over. He was numb to the pain. He read the expressions on his friends’ faces and remembered having one thought.

Don’t look down.

Six years later, Trevor stands on the mound and looks down — at the baseball in his glove. He’s pitching for the Santa Rosa Athletics in a college summer league as he prepares for his sophomore season with Sonoma State in 2020.

“We couldn’t be prouder,” said Rick Gillilan, Trevor’s father. “Watching him overcome and play the game he loves, it has given us the courage to recover as well.”

A LIE THAT HEALED

It was courage that helped Rick and his wife Joelle relay a message of hope to their son as he lay fully bandaged in the burn center. Even if it may not have been entirely truthful at the time

“I would ask a lot of questions, when I first woke up,” Trevor said. “I wanted to know what my future was, how bad of shape was I really in?”

His legs were far and away the most impacted area of his body. They were burned so severely the medical staff strongly believed walking normally again would be a long-term battle for Trevor. Furthermore, his right arm — his pitching arm — was also severely burned to the extent that contracture had begun to form.

Burn scar contracture is a tightening of the skin that causes the skin to pull together near the damaged areas. It can lead to long lasting problems if not treated immediately. Permanently shortened range of motion is one of those problems. Baseball players, especially pitchers, rely on extended range of motion in their arms — at high speeds.

Using a dry-erase board because of the 4-foot long intubation tube in his throat, Trevor didn’t take long to ask his parents if normal life — and baseball — would ever be an option again. When the medical team told Rick and Joelle the answer was no, they agreed to give Trevor a different answer.

“We knew we had to tell him something,” Rick said. “We looked him in the eye and told him ‘You’ll be able to do everything you want to do in life, but you will have to work very hard.’ ”

It was years later when Trevor discovered this was not his medical team’s diagnosis.

By that time, Trevor had already returned to the diamond.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an excerpt to a larger feature that was released Sept. 6 in  SportStars Magazine’s September issue. Read it in its entirety at SportStarsMag.com.