FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A 2-year-old girl continues to fight for her life after she was severely burned by a pressure cooker in Fort Lauderdale last month.
Samantha Gonzalez's grandmother was bathing her in the sink Sept. 14 while she was preparing dinner using a pressure cooker. Authorities said the cooker overflowed, causing steam and liquid to burn Samantha.
"I guess it was an accident," Samantha's mother, Tiana Gonzalez, told Local 10 News. "I felt really, really sad since she's my only baby girl."
Samantha was taken to Broward Health Medical Center and then flown to the burn unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where she has remained for nearly three weeks.
Doctors said 60 percent of the toddler's body is covered with second-and third-degree burns. She's undergone several surgeries already, and her burns are so severe that her kidneys and liver are failing.
"She's having trouble moving her arms, she has severe burns on her hands. She might lose some fingers and her arms," family friend Carolina Rodriguez said.
The family learned Monday that one of Samantha's legs will have to be amputated.
"When I saw her, it hurt me really bad," Tiana Gonzalez said.
Samantha's medical expenses are adding up and her family has few resources, because Tiana Gonzalez is disabled and lives three hours away.
"We are doing our best so that they don't have to worry about the money, they can just worry about Samantha," Rodriguez said.
Click here to make a donation for Samantha's medical expenses through the family's GoFundMe page.
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