A TEENAGER who suffered extensive burns in a gas explosion in Chippenham just three months ago has been able to leave hospital to see his favourite football club in action.

Kyle Roe defied the odds to survive the blast in his flat last October, which left him with 87 per cent burns.

Nineteen-year-old Kyle has undergone extensive skin grafts involving 13 operations, and is now in the rehabilitation stage.

Although he still has years of treatment ahead of him, he is now able to walk and is regaining strength.

Spurs supporter Kyle was even able to get to the Liberty Stadium to see his club’s victory over Swansea.

He is now waiting to be transferred to Bristol's Southmead Hospital.

Parents Tracy and Chris Roe have been at his bedside for the past 13 weeks.

Tracy said: “The chances of him surviving were very slim. Nobody thought Kyle was going to survive.

“He had a cardiac arrest the night he arrived here, and they managed to get him back.

“He’s had multiple infections, had to go on dialysis and had ventilator-acquired pneumonia along with acute respiratory disease syndrome.

“He’s been through a lot and that’s on top of all the surgery he’s had just to try and get skin grafts on him – 13 operations.

“He’s had to have skin grown in the lab, to be sprayed onto his body, because he didn’t have enough skin for his grafting.

“Kyle is fully covered in skin now.

“He’s doing daily physio and occupational therapy, and cream massaging three times per day to manage contractures and tightness of the skin.

“The fact that we’re now at this stage 13 weeks on, where he’s on his feet and trying to walk, and having physio, is thanks to this hospital and all the staff that have looked after him.

“The standard of care he has received has been truly amazing.”

Tracy said Kyle would need extensive treatment for the next two years at least.

“But in the grand scheme of things he’s doing remarkably well.”

In November, the family – which also includes Kyle’s brothers Kallum, 22, Connor, 12, and seven-year-old Findlay – launched a fundraising campaign.

They set up a Just Giving page, which is already close to hitting its £5,000 target for Morriston Hospital in Swansea, where he is being treated. There has been a big fundraising effort in Chippenham, too, including contributions by Kyle’s employer Morrisons.

The family will be donating £1,000 to the League of Friends at Morriston, which has provided on-site accommodation for Kyle’s parents.

The rest will be going to the Tempest Burns ITU Unit, where the family has already donated five televisions, replacing the small, 20-year-old sets.

Jo and Robynne Hinkley have led the fundraising events on behalf of the entire family.

Tracy said: “Even now people are asking if there is anything we can do to help get things ready for when Kyle comes home. Their kindness has been unbelievable.

“We didn’t think we were ever going to take him home. We thought we were going to lose him.

“The fact that he has survived, and is doing as well as he is, is a testament to the care he has received here.”

Consultant plastic surgeon Sarah Hemington-Gorse said: “Given how unwell Kyle was when he came to us, it’s an absolute joy to see him at the point where he’s ready to go back to his local hospital."

You can donate to the Just Giving page here: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/robynne-hinkley-2