THE WOODLANDS, Texas — An elementary school teacher in The Woodlands is still recovering after being badly burned in a cooking accident at her home last week.
Clarissa Montgomery received first, second and third-degree burns on 30% of her body after a pan of oil fell.
“I’ve done this exact same thing in the exact same kitchen with the exact same pan a thousand times and never, ever has something like this happened,” Montgomery said.
Last Monday, a pan of boiling cooking oil she was using to make tortilla chips toppled over.
“The whole pan fell onto me and then I slipped into what had pooled on the tile," Montgomery said.
Her husband heard the commotion.
“I just heard a loud crash and then screams from there and didn’t really know what to do other than I thought we needed to get her clothes off of her because it was burning her," Mark Montgomery said.
Clarissa Montgomery was admitted to the burn unit at Memorial Hermann on Wednesday. She said she’s was taking it day-by-day but now is taking it hour-by-hour since the pain is getting worse and some of her wounds have become infected.
“I just discovered that there are some third-degree burns and so now we’re talking about skin grafting,” she said.
She remains hopeful that she'll soon return to Deretchin Elementary School fully recovered.
Clarissa Montgomery said her life changed in the split second but the support from those around her has kept her going.
“It’s OK,” she said. “We’ll get through it.”
A GoFundMe page has already raised more than $20,000. If you would like to help, click here.