Elwood “Woody” Hamilton (65) of Louisville, Kentucky comes from a large family; he has a twin brother Lee, and 6 siblings in total. His family extends to his wife Lisa, and his three daughters, Kate, Jill, and Allie. Woody made his career in real estate ever since graduating from the University of Louisville’s College of Business in 1982.
Around 6 p.m. New Year’s Eve 2023, Elwood “Woody” Hamilton’s life was shaken up in an unexpected way. Hamilton and his wife, Lisa, were settled in their Louisville home reflecting on the year and making plans for the year ahead. They had started a fire and Hamilton propped his feet on the hearth of the fireplace.
Hamilton was diagnosed was neuropathy months before this evening. The nerves in the bottom of his feet weren’t transmitting pain (or feeling) sensations the way they should. As his feet were warming by the fire, he was unaware they were actually burning.
“With the neuropathy, I thought I could feel my feet, but obviously I didn’t,” he shared. “Within seconds my feet were literally fried. We have a gas fireplace, which heats up very quickly.”
Lisa got him to an emergency room, but Hamilton was then transferred to the UofL Health – UofL Hospital – Burn Center.
Lisa shared how quickly things had happened, in particular the severity of the burn. Hamilton had sustained third-degree burns to the ball of his foot.
Hamilton’s first surgery was 6 a.m. New Year’s Day. The team at UofL Health did what they could to clean up Woody’s feet. He remembers, “The surgeon came in with a knife, and he chopped off the bottom of my foot like it was fileting a fish. He took the bottom and tossed it into a garbage can. He was a pretty good shot too, I couldn’t believe it went in. Then they bandaged my feet up and within 30 minutes I was up on the 6th floor with a room. I don’t know how they manage everything. That whole experience was unbelievable. Jill got to talking to all the nurses and doctors, even Priscilla who helped keep things clean and tidy was remarkable, and she’d been with UofL Health for 40 years! I believe it’s a calling, to be able to care for people like that.”
Hamilton told his surgeon that his goal was to be able to walk again.
“So many of the surgeons and everyone on that team brought us an indescribable sense of peace in the midst of these unknowns and what-if situations,” Lisa said. “Just enough to get through the day, breaking everything down into small day-by-day chunks.”
Hamilton added his own recollections. “Something else that stands out in my mind is the gentleman who wheeled me down in the bed. He wheeled me up to this red line on the flood, and a lady came up with a clipboard, with papers I needed to sign. That’s when she asked me, ‘What do you want to do with your toes? Would you like them to go to a cemetery?’ I said, ‘Where’s the nearest dumpster? Throw them in there.’ I remember I was really nervous at the beginning. I told one of the ladies nearby on their team I was nervous, but they were so comforting. When I went into that operating room there was the biggest, nicest guy in the world. I remember asking if he ever played football, it turns out his job was to administer the medication that numbs the pain. Less than three hours later and the whole thing was done. All the nurses were there. Without my family, without the compassion and love of those nurses—they were like family, they truly were. It was remarkable. For 23 days I was in that bed, and I don’t have a single complaint about anything.”
Reflecting on his recovery, Hamilton said, “There’s two ways you can go about things, you can be positive, or you can go the other way. One of the hardest parts of all of this, for me, is what the family has gone through. The effect it has on me…I’m a person who doesn’t want others to have to wait on me, and it was extremely hard for the daughters, for Lisa—they never exposed any of that to me, but you know it is.”
Hamilton first walked by himself into outpatient care on April 11, 2024, without assistance or a walker. He spent most of 2024 continuing to recover.
“I’m working on getting stronger and better each day,” he said. “I will say that I’m not 100% back to normal, because I get different pains, and I think part of it comes from being in that bed all that time. I still don’t always walk completely normally, but I always tell people, ‘I’m doing great,’ when they ask. I’m back to walking about a mile and a half a day. The impact this had on other people is something that still sits with me, but we’re finding ways to get through that. I told Lisa that I’m taking her on a vacation, as a small thank-you for all that she did, I called it a little honeymoon for us. This event changed her life as much as it changed mine. We ended up going down to Florida, and even extended our trip twice. I’m so conscious now of my feet, everywhere I go I’m looking to make sure I don’t accidentally faceplant. But we had a remarkable time down there.”
Hamilton said his experience affected him in more ways than just the physical changes his body has gone through. “It can happen so quickly, and it can change your life in a flash,” he said. “I’m very sympathetic to that, maybe more so now than I was. I believe that you get by giving, and I remember telling all those nurses that I’m their biggest cheerleader, if there’s ever anything I can do for them, just have them call and I’ll be down there fast.”
Hamilton reiterated his gratitude for the entire team at UofL Health. “They were all so unbelievable,” he said. “The care, compassion, and love I got made everything so much easier on me.”
