Part 2 - The electrical shock was so forceful that it literally exploded out of Cliff’s body causing several burn wounds over 15% of his body.
The primary damage was to both of his knee joints burning away over one-third of the internal structure of his knees. In addition, the extreme shock also severely burned two toes which later were amputated. He also suffered two large burns to his back and head.
On the scene, he went into cardiac arrest and paramedics revived him with a defibrillator before beginning his transport to the burn center. During the ambulance ride, Cliff again went into cardiac arrest and was again revived.
Cliff suffered his third cardiac arrest episode at the burn center where he lost consciousness for two minutes before finally being revived.
When he awoke the following day at the burn center, Cliff experienced severe pain in his chest. In performing the necessary resuscitation, paramedics and the team of doctors had bruised and torn his chest cartilage.
In addition, Cliff learned that the burn doctors had already amputated his big toe and had recommended amputating both of his legs below the knees but his parents had refused.
Instead, they sought another medical opinion and in their efforts to find the best specialist his parents had located a surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center named Dr. Malcolm Lesavoy who was performing pioneering burn grafting that allowed qualified patients to avoid amputation in certain circumstances.
