One survivor of the deadly warehouse fire in Oakland has been clinging to life for the past six weeks. He is believed to be the last person to escape the horrific fire that killed 36 but wasn't on the rolls of the seriously injured until recently.
Sam Maxwell, 32, of Oakland, was in a medically induced coma for five weeks, and though he is now conscious at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, he still can't talk. So his parents are telling his story through the broken memories of his friends and others who made it out of the so-called Ghost Ship warehouse alive.
"They said they were frightened," Maxwell's mother, Wendi Maxwell, said. "They said it went up in about 60 seconds. (Sam) had to climb down a ramp and stop at a landing ... and go down a foot-and-a-half and go down some stairs ... and then go into a room that was full of furnitire and full of smoke and no light and find the correct door."
Wendi Maxwell said one of Sam's friends who saw him come out said, he came out low and fast and strong and hard. She said that sounds like her son.
Once at the hospital, Sam was diagnosed with severe smoke inhalation. After a few hours, his throat and lungs started to swell shut, and doctors said he would have to be sedated, possibly placed in a coma for three days.
Then, there were complications: two bouts with pnuemonia, blood infections and cyanide poisoning from all the chemicals he breathed in.
"Three days turned to six, and six turned to 12, and then the next thing we knew, he had been sedated for five weeks," Sam's father, William Maxwell, said.
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Now, Sam begins the tough work of rehabilitaion, which consists of relearning how to use his mouth, use his vocal cords and all of his muscles, his father said.
Wendi said her son will handle that too because he lives by two mottos: "The only way out is through." And "You can only move forward, not back," she said.
"The reason he was able to get out is that he is strong and determined, and he always knows where he is," she added.
The sedatives Sam has been given are so powerful, doctors aren't sure if he will ever remember his heart-pounding effort to get out of the warehouse. Or whether he will even remember the 10 hours he was awake before he was put into a coma.
For now, William and Wendi Maxwell are looking ahead, crediting the staff at the burn unit at St. Francis Memorial for keeping Sam alive so that he can one day make a full recovery.
